Quil and Claire
by Chiara246
Summary: The story of Quil and Claire.
1. Chapter 1

**Quil's POV**

The delicious smell of chocolate chip cookies drifted through the air.

"Come on, please Em, we're going to die of starvation," Seth begged in a pitiful tone.

Emily turned around and glared up at us. The spatula hung threateningly at her side. You could tell she wasn't really angry at us, more like bemusedly annoyed.

"If you're going to die, go do it in the backyard", she turned back to the cakes and began spreading cream over them.

I looked hungrily at the desserts, I hadn't eaten dinner yet and it was after 7:00!

Embry groaned convincingly and collapsed on the floor and Seth quickly followed suit.

I just chuckled and sat myself on the bench top, waiting for Emily to notice, or step on them, whichever came first. I think I'd prefer she stepped on them.

A few minutes later Emily turned, stepping over them carelessly and sorting through her shelf of spices without sparing them a glance.

"Sam, could you please remove these corpses from my kitchen, they're going to ruin the food," she called out.

By ruin, I expected she meant eat it before anyone else had a chance.

Sam strode into the kitchen, raising his eyebrows in disbelief when he saw the 2 boys who were currently spread out across the floor.

I watched with a smug grin. Perhaps we could give them a proper burial? I'm sure Emily had some nice flowers in the back yard, she loved gardening.

"Perhaps you could bury them", Emily repeated my thought out loud. The oven timer went off and she walked over to check on her baking.

Neither of the boys moved but I heard Seth's heartbeat pick up slightly. Sam might not, but I knew of quite a few people who would enjoy burying him - many of whom were undoubtedly listening in on this conversation.

And I would most likely help. Especially with Embry, I remembered the day before when he kindly told the teacher that I was late to class because of, and I quote here 'flatulence problems.' When in reality I had slept in after getting back from patrol late the night before.

Don't ask me where he learned that word, I'm fairly sure it wasn't in a normal lesson, no teacher would be stupid enough to bring that up.

Not many people had understood, but it was safe to say that I had been avoided for the rest of the day.

Real mature.

Sam shook his head and glared at the boys.

"Leave Emily alone". He stepped over the current floor ornaments and kissed Emily softly.

The joys of imprinting. Yuck!

You know we have to see this anytime we phase as a group? And Jared isn't much better. What would it be like when the other guys imprinted?

Seth grumbled something about PDA but got off of the floor and went into the living room, admitting defeat. Embry followed him out and sat down on the sofa.

Here was my chance.

While Emily was distracted I slipped behind her and took two of the chocolate chip cookies she had just pulled out of the oven, hiding them in my pocket until I was out of the room.

The rest of the pack, minus Jared, Leah and Jacob, were squashed into the small living room. Kim was going into Port Angeles with her family today. Jared had been stressing about it on patrol last night so I assume he had decided to follow them.

When I had asked Leah if she was coming, she had smiled innocently and said she wouldnt be able to make it. The look clearly said 'I know something you don't know'.

As for Jacob, who knew where he was. He had been sulking since Bella's marriage. I didn't really get it, she wasn't that brilliant in my opinion, more trouble than she was worth.

I made sure not to phase at the same time as him, being in his head was rather painful.

I could faintly hear the rumbling of tires coming up the driveway. The rain bouncing off the roof of the car.

"Sounds like they're here," I heard Sam tell Emily from the kitchen.

Finally! They were only 2 hours late!

"Could someone please put the ripple cakes in the fridge? Preferably without eating them," Emily called. I took pity on her, Emily had been cooking for the better part of the day.

"I've got it," I yelled back, grabbing the platters and walking down the hallway before anyone else could. The air was much colder here, but it didn't bother me.

I heard the door slam and someone stomp into the house.

"Hello Elise, where's Trent?" Emily asked her sister carefully.

"Don't ask," the woman's reply was short and angry. She sounded a lot like Leah.

"Well haven't you grown," Emily said. Who was she talking to? I listened carefully and detected a small heartbeat in the other room. Okay, so Emily had a niece or nephew.

I placed the delicious looking desserts in the fridge and headed towards the noise.

There was a petite woman standing in the middle of the living room with her back to me, who I assumed was Elise. She was obviously a native, judging by her brown skin but her hair had been dyed blond which really didn't suit her. She was dressed in a tight blue dress, a fake fur coat and silver heels

It reminded me of a barbie doll that Embry, Jacob and I had set on fire once. Well, the hair was set on fire, the rest of it just sort of melted, disfiguring the face. After it had hardened again we had enjoyed flushing it down the toilet.

Billy hadn't been very pleased at the time, the plumber had been expensive.

Emily was introducing her sister to all of the people in the room. "And this is Quil," she added, nodding in my direction. Elise turned and looked at me for a few seconds. Her brown eyes were cold and heartless. She looked so different from Emily, but I guess blond hair would do that for you.

A small child was pressed up against her shoulder, hiding her face from view. She had curly black hair that reached halfway to her waist. Clearly her mother had something against cutting her hair.

"Quil, how original," she mocked, rolling her eyes. Like I hadn't heard that one before.

I forced a smile back at her, refusing the urge to roll my eyes in return.

"Well, you have quite an interesting house here little sister. It was nearly impossible to find. Can someone put the heater on? Its freezing in here," Elise asked.

"We can start a fire if you would like," Emily said. "Why don't we all have some dinner?"

Yes! Food! I stopped my celebration for a minute. I sort of owed it to Emily to at least make a fire. She was feeding the whole pack after all. How much would that of cost?

Emily led the group towards the table and poured Elise some coffee.

"There had better still be food when I get back," I grumbled. I didn't particularly want to be around the barbie doll anyway. Leah had the right idea.

Emily smiled a thank you and nodded at me, good, she would save me a plate of food.

I went outside into the darkness, the rain pouring onto me. Good old La Push - always raining.

The only wood I could find was in large chunks, too large for the fireplace. With a sigh I picked up the axe and got to work, doing extra for another day as well.

After 15 minutes I picked up the stack and re-entered the house.

Sam, Emily, Elise and her daughter were sitting at the table. The rest of the pack were on the sofas, eating their meal as quickly as possible. No one had time to talk. I'm fairly sure the only reason most of them came was because there was the free food.

Once the fire was burning strongly I made my way over to the table, taking the plate that Sam offered me.

Elise was glaring at her daughter, finding it difficult to eat with the child on her lap.

"Could I hold Claire for a minute?" Emily asked kindly. Elise nodded and handed the child over. She closed her eyes, leaning against Emily's shoulder. Poor little thing should have been in bed by now.

I studied Claire as she slept, she was really thin, nearly sick looking. Did Elise even feed her? Her skin was relatively pale for a Quileute, she had plump pink lips and a small button nose. As if noticing my staring, she opened her eyes.

As I looked into her brown eyes my whole world shifted. Nothing else mattered except for her. Everything I had done in my life felt insignificant, a waste of time. Anything I had ever considered beautiful thinning out into a blurry nothing.

I felt the sudden urge to pick her up, to hold her in my arms, so that she would be safe.

What was it like, having Elise as a mother? Was she treated alright? Was she actually fed?

She looked scared and tired.

Claire should be allowed to sleep, maybe Elise should take her home?

She was shivering, despite the fire, was she too cold? Perhaps I should get a blanket for her.

Oh god, I had imprinted on a 2 year old. What would people say? There goes Quil, the creep, he's not even related to the girl. I could stand the rumours, but what about Claire? She would grow up with them, have no real friends. People at school would tease her, question her, mock her. It would be cruel to do that to her.

"Uh, Quil?" Sam snapped me out of my thoughts. I looked up, startled.

"Yeah?"

"Can I talk to you for a minute?"

"Does it have to be now?" What about Claire, I had to look after her.

"Yes," he glanced over at Claire, who was watching this exchange with wide eyes. "Em will look after her."

I followed Sam out of the house and into the forest, glad for my improved eyesight. Sam phased and waited for me to do the same. I focused for a second and exploded into a chocolate brown wolf. Sam's thoughts entered my head.

_You imprinted on a 2 year old? Is that even possible? _Sam was surprised but not really angry.

_I guess so. _What else could I say? There was no use denying it.

_Re-play what just happened please. _I did so, starting from when I walked up to the table.

After a few minutes Sam nodded.

_Come on, we'll see if you're allowed to hold her. Don't worry too much Quil, just look after her and everything will turn out fine. We had better explain to Emily though._

Yes, Emily, how was she going to react? I wondered what the pack was going to say. I'm never going to hear the end of this.

Sam phased back and got dressed before entering the house.

I breathed a sigh of relief. Sam was taking it fairly well considering I had just imprinted on his niece, I had a feeling not everyone was going to be this understanding.

I took a deep breath and marched back into the house.


	2. Chapter 2

**Quil's POV**

Emily was holding Claire, looking worried. When Sam entered the room she glanced up and tilted her head slightly, obviously asking Sam what was going on. He sent her a quick smile, and her face instantly relaxed.

Claire was now hiding her face on Emily's shoulder, not fully asleep. Her small head buried in Emily's black hair.

She was gorgeous.

"Maybe Quil could hold her for a minute Em?" Sam asked gently. Emily looked at me and then back at her niece, I nodded in answer to the non-existent question.

Emily bit her lips anxiously but smiled slightly and held Claire out to me. Claire had frozen, her eyes squeezed shut. I picked her up gently, lifting her to my height.

She was so small.

"Why don't you sit down Quil," Emily suggested. I did as I was told and sat next to Sam, placing Claire on my lap. She instantly lowered her head, her beautiful black curls falling across her face.

I looked down at her, she still had her eyes closed and was looking scared. I put my arms around her and her eyes opened. She looked up at me nervously. I wasn't going to hurt her.

"I'm Quil" I whispered gently, staring into her adorable brown eyes. She nodded.

"Claire". Her soft voice was so quiet that I wouldn't have been able to hear if it I was human. After a few minutes she relaxed, closing her eyes and drifting off to sleep.

Good, she needed to rest.

"So Elise how have you been?" Emily attempted to re-start the conversation.

"Better than you. What in the world happened to your face?" I was really starting to hate this woman. Poor little Claire.

I saw Sam tremble slightly, glaring at Elise. This was not going to end well.

"I was attacked by a bear" Emily filled in smoothly, sliding her hand across Sam's. His shaking immediately stopped.

Elise screwed up her nose in disgust.

"Really? A bear? Disgusting creatures. Anyway the main reason I wanted to come over was that I'm considering moving around here." Elise said airily.

She's considering moving around here? That was great! Well, partly.

"Really? I thought Trent hated it here". Emily asked, looking like she already knew the answer.

I assume Trent was Claire's father.

"Precisely," Elise snorted glaring in Emily's direction. "And then you could help me with looking after Claire."

Yes! If Emily was looking after Claire I would get to see her more often.

Emily looked slightly worried. "I'd love to help you with Claire-"

"Then that settles it. We're moving into 12 Red Creek Rd tomorrow afternoon. You will help with the move I assume?" Elise cut in.

They were going to wake Claire if they spoke any louder.

"You've already bought the house?" Sam asked, raising his eyebrows.

"Of course" Elise answered snootily. "I bought it months ago. The truck with all of our furniture will be arriving tomorrow at 4:00pm."

Claire's head jerked up, staring at her mother in shock. Elise had obviously forgotten to mention this tiny detail to her.

Emily also looked shocked but still managed a smile. "What about Trent?"

"Oh he'll be staying in the city. He can visit Claire every once in a while. Anyway I have to be off, hand Claire over."

That last part was directed at me.

I didn't want to give Claire to this woman, her mother or not.

Claire looked up at me, I gave her a quick hug.

"Don't you want to stay a bit longer Elise? We have a chocolate ripple cake for dessert if you'd like some and a cookie for Claire".

I looked up at the clock, 8:30.

"No thank you" she said, sounding slightly annoyed.

"Please stay Elise, I haven't seen you in such a long time. And you can tell me all about the new house," Emily pleaded.

She looked in my direction. Was Emily doing all of this for my sake? I should really be kinder to her.

Elise hesitated for a moment.

"Okay, fine," she sniffed unhappily, sitting back down.

I smiled happily. I would have to thank Emily later.

Sam didn't look too happy about the idea but he stood up and handed me a movie.

"Why don't you put this on for Claire?" Sam told me. I nodded and headed into the living room.

The rest of the pack had already left, having eaten 2 of the 3 ripple cakes that had been in the fridge.

I shook my head with a snort. Well, at least they had left 1 of the cakes for the guests.

I put the DVD on and switched off the lights, settling Claire into my lap.

She gave a little sigh and closed her eyes, going back to sleep. I turned the volume down and lay down on the couch, closing my eyes.

"Quil?" I opened my eyes to see Sam standing next to the sofa. "Elise is getting ready to leave," he whispered.

I nodded and sat up. Claire sleepily opened her eyes. I picked her up and carried her into the kitchen. Elise was standing next to the bench, a cup of hot chocolate in her hand. I pulled out one of the cookies I had stolen and slipped it into Claire's pocket when her mother wasn't looking.

Claire's brown eyes turned towards me and a sleepy smile lit up her face. Emily stared pointedly at Claire's pocket and I shrugged ruefully before turning to Elise.

"Thank you for supper, goodbye everyone," Elise started towards the door, ignoring the little girl in my arms. After a moment she turned, as if forgetting something.

You could tell how much she adored her daughter, I though sarcastically.

"Put her in the car," Elise told me. I nodded, hiding Claire inside my jacket before going out into the pouring rain. I buckled her in and closed the door.

Emily and Sam followed us out. I watched unhappily as the car drove out of sight.

Sam sighed and gestured towards the car. "Go for it," he told me, putting an arm around Emily. She looked worried but huddled into his chest. Sam muttered something else too, but I was already running down the stairs.

I hid behind a tree and phased, chasing after the car, staying out of sight.

About 10 minutes later the car pulled up into a small house. It was a rustic brown colour with a small porch that surrounded the left half of the house, it looked like it was falling apart. There was two windows, the frames splintery and the paint peeling off. All in all the house looked like no one had owned it in years. Probably true.

Elise climbed out of the car and stepped onto the veranda without waiting for Claire. She was only 2 for goodness sake!

The house door didn't have a lock, though that was fairly normal in La Push. Elise slammed the door shut and it creaked unhappily. She seemed to have a habit of doing that.

Claire climbed out of the car, getting drenched in the process and walked up the stairs. She couldn't reach the handle. "Mum?" No response.

Leaving a 2 year old outside at night, in a strange neighbourhood. What was the woman thinking?

Quiet whimpers broke me from my thoughts. She had climbed down the stairs and was trying to open the door of the car. It was locked. The rain was soaking her and her tiny had slipped from the handle. She landed in the mud. I battled with what to do for a moment before taking a step towards her, I couldn't let her freeze.

As if she was aware that something was there, she turned and stared at the plant I was hidden behind. My brown fur should be blending into the plants, keeping me concealed. And it was way too dark for the human eye. Her eyes were watery but she wasn't crying.

I walked towards her and lay down beside her. Her eyes grew wide and she shivered slightly, slowly rising to her feet. I whimpered, trying to show her that I meant her no harm. She froze, looking me in the eye.

"Are you gonna eat me?" she stuttered. I shook my head. Nothing was ever going to hurt her.

I slowly shuffled up to her and licked her tiny hand.

She was so wet and cold. If I didn't get her warm soon she was going to get sick.

I could feel fear rolling off of her in waves. I whimpered again and gently pushed her towards shelter. She complied, stumbling up the stairs and backing into the door, she was shivering, though if it was because there was a giant wolf in her backyard, the storm or she was just cold, I couldn't tell.

After what seemed like hours she lay down on the wood, curling back into a ball. She probably thought that I had left; she was still shivering, her skin pale, lips slightly blue. I couldn't let her freeze.

I stepped up onto the porch and lay down beside her. Her eyes opened but she didn't move, staring up at me in fear.

I whined slightly and licked her arm.

Her tiny hand reached out and gently patted my shoulder. Another cold blast of wind shot from behind me, and she pressed her wet body against mine to keep warm. I curled myself around her, making sure that she was safe and warm.

Thunder boomed and she jumped slightly before burying her head in my fur and going to sleep.

If Elise wasn't going to take care of her, I would.


	3. Chapter 3

**Quil's POV**

I woke up at about 6:00 the next morning. The birds were singing quietly and I could hear a magpie in the distance. Small water droplets covered nearly everything and my breath was coming out in puffs of cloud.

Claire looked fairly warm and was still asleep beside me, her cheeks rose coloured in the frosty air.

She looked so peaceful.

I listened carefully and could just hear Elise's breathing. She was still asleep. Asleep while her daughter was outside in the cold.

I felt another wolf phase. Paul. Just great.

_You imprinted on a 2 year old? Sucked in dude. Sorta gross, but whatever floats your boat._

His thoughts were still on his drunk father that was presently passed out on the couch. I purposly ignored that for his sake.

Paul mentally chuckled, searching through my head.

_ That Elise sure is a piece of work. Anyway, I've got to go. She's cute. _Paul phased back, letting me return to silence. Well that went better than expected.

Half an hour later Sam phased.

_What an idiot. _He grumbled, after listening to my thoughts for few seconds.

_She'll go to work soon you know. Emily said she usually puts Claire in child care. _Sam told me.

Child care? Claire couldnt go to child care, lots of rude, ungrateful kids. What if she got hurt? The adults would be too busy to notice.

Sam shook his head.

_Hundreds of kids go to child care in the city each year Quil, and they all turn out fine. _Sam dismissed my thoughts.

Is all that cake gone? I asked Sam.

He nodded, repaying what had happened after I ran after the car.

_Know anything about this?_

Emily came to the table, counting and recounting the cookies with a thoughtful expression on her face. Probably trying to work out when I had stolen them.

Sam shook his head again.

_I've got to get some more wood for the fireplace. You can come and help, it will repay Emily for the fact we're having to visit Elise again._

He obviously wan't happy about having to put his imprint through that again. I couldn't blame him, I didn't really like Elise either.

Sam phased back and I returned to silence.

I let Claire sleep for a few more hours, until I heard Elise beginning to wake up. I gently nudged the little girl beside me until she opened her adorable brown eyes.

"Morning" she murmured sleepily, closing her eyes again. Elise was now in the kitchen, making herself a coffee by the sound of it. Was she even wondering where her daughter was?

I uncurled myself from around Claire and stood up. Claire opened her eyes, staring up at me as if she had only just noticed how tall I was. Maybe she couldn't see me very well last night, it had been the middle of the night after all.

I licked her hand and then ran into the forest, disappearing just as Elise was coming through the door. A loud 'slam' let me know she had closed the door behind her.

Elise ignored her daughter and got into her car, driving out the driveway without a glance in the girl's direction.

Claire was fully awake now and staring after the trail of dust that the car had left.

I ran back to the house and stood behind her. She turned around and jumped in surprise, I whimpered slightly. I hadn't meant to scare her.

"Can you open i?" I looked at the handle, it was round. I wouldn't be able to open it. I shook my head but walked and lay down underneath the handle, hoping she would get the message.

Claire stared at me for a few seconds before climbing carefully onto my back. I slowly stood up and positioned her so that she could open the door. She sat there for a few seconds, waiting to see if I would move. When I stayed still she grabbed onto my fur and reached out to the door handle with the other hand. She was so small, so fragile, nearly anything could break her.

I waited until she was holding the door handle and then slowly stepped out of the way. She wavered slightly and gripped with her legs, holding on tighter.

The door creaked open and I carried Claire into the house, pushing the door shut with my nose but leaving it slightly ajar. There was a hallway going from 1 end of the house to the other. On the right an open door led into the living room, and the door next to it led into the kitchen. Further along I could see a closed door, probably a bedroom. On the left side of the hallway there was a door that led to the bathroom and laundry and another 2 that were closed.

The carpets were brown and musty, burning my nose. There were black and brown marks all over the walls and paint peeling off the ceiling. The house smelled of alchohol. Claire deserved better than this.

I headed into the kitchen and lay down so that Claire could get off. She hesitated for a second and then jumped off, landing gently on the floor. I watched my small imprint walk over to the cupboard and find herself a bowl. She stepped up onto the oven handle, gripping the benchtop with her tiny fingers. This done she pulled herself onto the benchtop and stood up so that she could reach the cupboard above her.

She shouldn't be up there, she could fall. However her movements were graceful and coordinated, like she'd done this sort of thing many times before.

I heard the car returning. That was quick, I gave a small bark to let her know I was leaving and then ran out the door, disappearing into the forest, before she had time to look.

Elise pulled the car into the driveway and entered the house with a cup of coffee in her hand. The house was silent except for the 2 heartbeats and the faint chink of metal on china as Claire ate her breakfast.

Judging by the sun I would say that it was about 11:00. I had better head to Sams.

I entered Sam and Emily's little house without knocking. Sam was standing behind Emily, watching her cook breakfast.

"Elise didn't let her in the house," I growled angrily.

Emily grimanced in sympathy, Sam had obviously already filled her in.

"Maybe you can babysit her or something, I doubt Elise would mind who did it," Emily told me.

I nodded. "Okay. Can I have some pancakes?"

Sam rolled his eyes, but Emily smiled and handed me a plate of breakfast.

I sorted through the pantry untl I found the maple syrup, drowning the pancakes with it and stuffing the food into my mouth.

"Sam, weren't you going to cut some more wood up? We're running out" , Emily asked from the kitchen. "Heaven forbid that the house is cold next time she visits."

Sam grunted in reply and walked out the door towards the wood shed. I followed him out and attached the trailer to the car. The faster we got this over with the faster I could go and see Clair


	4. Chapter 4

**Quil's POV**

At exactly 4:00 Sam drove up the driveway to the little house. There was a large removal truck parked on the street a few metres away. The smell of cigarette smoke was reaching me from inside the house.

It burned my sensitive nose. Eeew.

I jumped out of the car and quickly strided to the front door. The curtains infront of the window moved ever so slightly and a pair of small brown eyes peeked out from behind the cloth before disappearing.

I knocked a few times on the front door and stepped back a pace. I could hear Claire's tiny heartbeat on the other side of the door, but she wasn't opening it, probably couldn't reach. She ran back into the living room and appeared back at the window, studying me.

I heard Sam and Emilly came up behind me and stepped to the right so that they could see the door.

Louder footsteps echoed down the hall and a few seconds later Elise answered the door.

She was wearing a tight black dress and had her hair up in a large bun above her head. She had a ton of make up plastered on her face and black high heels finished off the look. Perfume clouded my nose, nearly making me sneeze.

I heard Sam snort behind me, screwing up his nose.

Surely she wasn't going to move furniture in that?

"Come on in, we're about to get started. Would you like some coffee?" She turned and walked back into the house, not checking to see if we were following or waiting for a response. I walked through the door and poked my head into the living room. Claire was already gone.

There was a man standing in the kitchen, cigarette in one hand, a mug of steaming coffee in the other, who looked to be in his late 20's. Elise poured Sam and Emily a cup and then leaned back on the bench. He had tattoos up his arms and scraggy blonde hair, falling infront of his eyes.

He was eyeing Elise. Gross.

Where was Claire?

"Okay, we have a kitchen table and chairs that need to be brought in for this room. There's a green sofa that needs to be put in the living room, along with a T.V set. There's a cabinet that needs to be put in the bathroom and a chest of draws and mattress for Claires room," Elise droned in a bored voice.

A mattress for Claire's room? Didn't she have a bed?

"My bed, cupboard and dresser needs to be put in my room as well as any other boxes labeled 'Elise'. Everything else can be put in the spare room. Got it?" The speech finally came to an end.

"And I'm afraid I won't be able to help, unfortunetely I sprained my ankle on the steps last night." I snorted, loud enough for only Sam to hear. She definitly hadn't sprained her ankle last night.

Emily glared at her sister suspiciously but let it go.

Sam took one sip of his coffee and screwed up his face, quickly masking it before anyone could see. He picked up Emily's coffee and moved it away from her.

"Why don't Quil and I go get started then?" Sam suggested, obviously eager to leave the room. Emily nodded and followed us out the door.

Elise and the truck driver stayed in the kitchen while Emily came outside. Upon seeing the garden, she abandoned the furniture truck and began weeding furiously. Sam chuckled at the sight of her.

The back of the truck was already opened and with our strength it only took half an hour to move the stuff into the house. The mattress and Claire's draws were the only things left.

I carried the mattress into the hallway and knocked on the door.

"Claire? Are you in there?" The second part was completely unnecessary.

The door didn't open so I pushed it open myself and entered the room. The walls were a disgusting yellow colour and the carpet was torn and dirty. There was a large window in the outside corner of the room, the curtains stained and ripped in several places. Claire was sitting in the corner of the room, her dark curls hiding her face from view.

I pushed the mattress into the room and put it in the opposite side of the window. I didn't want Claire to get cold.

"Hey Claire, you okay?"

She didn't answer.

I sat down against the wall and watched her. For the first few minutes she completely ignored me, then she snuck a quick glance out the corner of her eye, probably checking to see if I was still here.

Roughly 10 minutes later she stood up and opened the door of what I had first assumed to be a closet, walking through it and into the kitchen. The truck driver was still here, on what had to be his 3rd cup of coffee, sitting around the kitchen table with the other adults.

How could he drink that stuff? I could smell the revolting liquid from all the way over here.

Claire walked calmly over to Emily and sat on her lap, staring at the floor. Emily glanced down at her happily and gave her a hug.

There weren't any other chairs so I leaned against the bench.

"Oh, do you really have to leave? It's so nice having a conversation with a normal person," Elise asked the truck driver in a sweet tone, glaring pointedly at her sister.

"If I don't leave now I'll be behind in my schedule. Perhaps I'll drop in for a visit some time," he replied with a wink.

Elise giggled and opened the door for him. "See you".

What a lovely person to have as a mother. Not.

"So EIise you never told me how you've been for the last couple of years. How's Mum and Dad?" Emily asked.

I ignored the rest of the conversation, dozing off. Sam had us running extra patrols since Bella's wedding and I was in deep need of sleep.

At about 6:00 Sam's phone beeped, signalling that he had a message, his eyes widened and he stood up.

"I have to go, Emily, stay here with Quil." He nodded to me, telling me that I was to guard his imprint.

Sam rushed out the door and ran into the forest to phase. What had happened? Did another wold phase? Bella return? Vampires in our area?

"Actually Elise I was wondering if I could have a chat with you," Emily said seriously. "Perhaps Quil could take Claire to her bedroom?" Claire looked slightly panicked at this idea and hid her face in Emily's hair. It seemed like one of her favourite hiding places.

I stepped over to the table and picked up Claire. "No listening in on the conversation, okay? There's some stuff in the car that you could clean with" Emily whispered to the floor, knowing that I would hear.

I left the house and sat Claire down next to the car, opening the trunk. Inside there was a vacume cleaner, a basket full of cleaning spray, windex and cloth, and a small garbage bag.

I picked up the vacume cleaner and garbage bag and entered Claire's bedroom. Sam had put the draws outside the bedroom door.

Claire picked up the basket and followed me into the house. I dragged the mattress back out of her room and plugged in the vacume cleaner. The least I could do was clean her room. Claire set to work on the walls and curtains, though she couldn't reach very high.

Once the carpet was vacumed I checked on Claire. She was jumping up and swiping the wall, trying to reach as far as possible. I laughed at her efforts and she turned around.

"What?" She asked me, a confused expression on her face.

"Nothing," I replied with a grin. She turned back to the wall and I sneaked up behind her, swooping her up and placing her on my shoulders.

"Can you reach now?"

Claire giggled and grabbed onto my hair, reaching forward to scrub the walls.

I wonder if I could paint them? We had some left over blue in mum's house, any colour would be better than the sickly yellow that presently coated the walls.

When Claire had finished I crawled under the doorway so she wouldnt hit her head and pulled the mattress back into her room, throwing her down gently onto the bed, her laughter filling the room.

Emily had some soft, green sheets for the mattress and a matching pillow and quilt. I put them on the bed and tucked in the sheets. Her room looked much better once cleaned.

"Tankyou. It doesn't smell now," she told me seriously. I chuckled to myself.

"You're welcome. Now why don't we find you some dinner?" She should be hungry by now, who knew if she had any lunch. I was starved myself.

Claire smiled and ran through the hallway, into the living room, her black curls bouncing around her shoulders. I sneaked through the other door and into the kitchen pantry. Amongst all the cans and other bits and pieces, the only thing I could find was 2 minute noodles.

Eeew, who ate kidney beans and chickpeas anyway?

I went back through her bedroom, to avoid Emily and Elise who were still talking at the kitchen table. I entered the living room to find Claire sitting on the sofa, a smile lighting up her face. I handed her a packet of noodles and she crunched on them happily.

"Can we watch a movie?" She asked me.

"Sure. Why don't you go find one while I plug it in?" She nodded and jumped down from the sofa.

I sat down behind the TV. There were several cords tangled into a huge mess. I untangled the cords and began plugging them into the power point, picking up the remote before sitting back down.

The blank screen switched on, showing some news in a different language. While I had done this Claire had found a box filled with DVD's in the corner of the room.

She climbed back onto the sofa and handed me the box.

"You pick."

I opened the flaps of the box and looked inside. There was only adult movies.

"Do you have any other movies Claire? These look like your mums."

She shook her head. I sorted through the box until I found one that looked out of place amongst the horror and romance movies that filled the box.

"The Bridge to Terabithia", that looked more kid friendly, though I can't say I've heard of it before.

"Rob gave mum dat one," Claire told me.

Rob? Who in the world was he? I decided I probably didn't want to know.

I put it in the DVD player and pressed play, settling back on the sofa. Claire cuddled into my lap and I entertained myself with braiding her hair.

The movie went for ages. I couldn't tell you what happened. At some point Claire lifted her head and tapped my arm.

"Yes Claire?"

"Can I have a tree house?" Why would she want a tree house? I looked at the screen, the main characters were sitting in a treehouse, writing on a piece of paper. So that's where she got the idea. Oh well, I was good at working with wood but it was fairly late by now.

"How about we do it another day? It's really dark outside". The clock on the wall read 8:37 and I paused for a moment. "What time do you have to go to bed?"

She shrugged her small shoulders. "When I'm tired."

"Are you sure?" My mother made be go to bed at 7:30 until I was 10. Claire should be in bed by now.

"Later" she told me pleadingly.

"Fine," I muttered. She leaned back on me and continued to stare at the screen. After a few minutes I saw her eyelids start to droop. She blinked a couple of times but was obviously fighting a losing battle.

"Qwil?"

"Yes Claire?"

"Where did Unca Sam go?"

"I'm not really sure Claire. He probably had something to take care of."

"Okay."

When the movie finished, I turned off the TV, Claire asleep in my arms. I stood up and walked into the kitchen, noticing the silence for the first time.

Emily had left a note on the table.

_Hi Quil,_

_Sam and I have gone home. Sam want's to talk to you sometime tomorrow morning. Take care._

_Emily_

I scrunched up the note and put it in the bin. The house was empty, I wonder where Elise disappeared to. The car wasn't in the driveway. Hopefully she went shopping, there wasn't enough food in the cupboard.

"I wonder where you're mum went," I mumbled. I pulled back the covers and placed her in bed, leaning down to kiss her forehead."Night Claire."

"Night Qwil," she mumbled sleepily.

The rumbling of Elise's car was growing in the distance. A few minutes later the car pulled into the driveway and Elise entered the house, shutting the door behind her.

"Oh, you're still here," Elise grumbled under her breath, dumping some shopping bags on the table. A small smile appeared on her lips "Are you any good at baby sitting?"

The next morning I would find out what had Sam so worried. Bella had returned from her honeymoon, pregnant. A few weeks later she gave birth to a daughter and Jacob imprinted.

The 'Royal' vampires came and went, and peace returned to our lives.


	5. Chapter 5

**2 months later...**

**Claire's POV**

I woke up at about 6:00, just like every other morning. It was sort of like I had an inside alarm clock, waking me up at the same time each day.

I opened my eyes, but couldn't see anything. It was so nice to sleep underneath the quilt, dark and warm, in your own little space. It was like there was nothing that could happen to you, you were safe.

Unfortunately, I had to leave my little heaven, because I had to eventually get up. It would probably be boring to stay there forever anyway.

Quil was next to me, back from wherever he had been last night. I had given up on asking after the first few times that he had been gone. He only left one or two nights a week, and was always back by morning.

Now, how to wake up Quil...

I didn't bother trying to move yet, it always took quite a large amount of effort on my part. Quil, for some reason, liked to hold onto me as he slept. Like I was a gigantic teddy bear or something.

The first few times he had done it was really annoying, but I was fairly used to it by now. I missed him on nights that he didn't stay over, it was nice to be wrapped up in his arms, as long it wasn't too tight. I knew he didn't mean to, he just did it in his sleep.

Mum slammed her bedroom door as she went into the kitchen for her morning coffee. Quil didn't move, but he would be awake now. After a few moments he let me go and I was free to move once again.

I would have until tomorrow morning to come up with something.

I wriggled my way up to the surface and rolled over, poking my head out from under the quilt. The air was much colder out here, I moved back slightly so that I could look out from underneath the blanket.

Quil had his eyes open, watching me. He did that a fair bit, but I was used to it. His hair was all ruffled and his eyes were slightly dull. He was still slightly tired. I wonder what time he got back last night.

Oh well, if Quil wanted to tell me where he went, he would. It was probably a secret, like spying on the bad people or something.

I waited for a few more minutes, until I heard the door slam closed. Mum had left the building.

Quil stood up and hunted around for his phone. I straightened my face, watching him dig through the blankets. Embry had shown me a trick the other day on Quils phone (he had left it on the couch while he was going to get dinner), and now I could set any photo I wanted to a thing called 'screen saver.' Embry also showed me how to take photos with it.

Quil hadn't checked the photos on his own lately, but if he did he would be surprised by what he found there. There was at least 200 photos of Quil asleep (it was really hard to wake him up) usually with cute stuffed animals on his head (just for my own entertainment). And since Quils phone was fairly old, (Brady reckoned it was ancient), so it didnt have the ability to delete them all at once. Quil would have to go through them one by one, a task that would take hours.

I will not laugh, I will not laugh, I will not laugh.

"Claire, why are you smiling?" He asked skeptically.

"Coz I'm happy," I replied innocently.

And because your phone has been take hostage. Muuwahaha.

"Right. And why are you happy?"

"Coz I am."

"That isn't an answer."

"Is too."

"Is not"

"Is too."

"Fine. But do you have any idea where my phone is?"

"Nope." I shook my head, looking up at him with wide eyes.

"Are you sure?"

"Yep."

"100% sure?" What did that mean?

"Yep."

"Then why is is vibrating from your pocket?"

"It isn't," I lied, wacking the phone and hoping that it would shut up. It didn't.

"Oh," Quil looked slightly upset. "In that case I'd better check."

Before he had finished checking, a hand wriggled under my arm.

"Quil," I giggled, "stop it!"

"Nope, not until I get my phone back." His other hand started tickling me as well and I tried to get away, kicking the annoying arms that were attacking me.

"Quil!" I could barely breathe now, and there were tears running down my face as I laughed hysterically.

A hand darted into my pocket and took the phone before I was released.

"Yes?" I couldn't speak, trying to catch my breath. "Now, what did you want to do today?"

I shrugged. "I don't know. Can we go and visit Aunty Em?" We hadn't seen her in a few days.

"Sure can."

10 minutes later we were in the car, driving to Aunty Emily's house. I really like going to her house, there were lots of people and lots of yummy food.

Quil stopped outside and I skipped into the house. Jake was standing in the doorway, holding Nessie by the foot. He smiled as he saw me.

"Good morning Claire-Bear," he told me, scooping me up and hanging me upside down next to Nessie.

"Hey Claire!" Nessie said, waving from her position beside me.

"Hey Nes! What are you guys doing?"

"Oh, nothing much."

"Nothing much?" Jake repeated, "this little rascal hid my piece of cake."

"You hid his piece of cake?" I asked Nessie excitedly. She nodded.

"Yep, he had already had 4 pieces, if he had anymore he would get fat."

"Good job." I told her with a grin. We both knew he wouldn't get fat, but it was still really good fun.

Quil arrived at the door, taking me by the ankles with a chuckle.

"Where's my piece of cake?" He asked, pretending to look hurt. Nessie shrugged, as much as one could shrug when they were hanging upside down.

"I don't know, Jake probably ate it," she told him.

"You ate my piece of cake?" He asked Jake with raised eyebrows.

"Oh shut up the pair of you," Paul grumbled, marching through the door and heading back to his car.

"Morning to you too," Quil called out after him as we made our way inside. Uncle Sam was standing in the kitchen, watching Aunty Emily cook. He seemed to do that a lot.

"Morning Aunty Em," I called, still upside down. She turned around and chuckled cheerfully.

"Morning Claire," she replied before turning back to her cooking.

"You can put me down now you know," I told Quil. He sighed sadly but put me back on the ground.

I ran over and gave Uncle Sam a hug.

"Morning," I told him excitedly. He shook his head with a small smile. Jacob put Nessie down and the 2 boys began hunting around the kitchen in search of food. Nessie and I made our way into the living room.

Embry was spread out across the couch, snoring loudly. I nearly squealed in excitement, but contained myself. I looked over at Nessie, who was wearing an identical expression.

'Stay here,' she mouthed before running out of the room. She returned a few seconds later, with 2 black markers. I took the one she offered me and sneaked up to Embry. I probably didn't need to, the guy could sleep through a hurricane.

Nessie drew the moustache while I gave him zombie looking eyes. Quil and Jake came in with their plates of pancakes and sat down, watching us in amusement.

Jake quickly finished and then came over to help, whispering advice.

"He's waking up, Nessie whispered. I didn't know how she knew, but she was good with things like this so I ran to the other side of the room, hid the marker under the couch and sat down on Quil's knee.

Jake and Nessie ran gracefully over to the couch and also sat down. A few minutes later, Embry opened his eyes and stood up.

"Mornin," he called, walking around the couch and into the kitchen.

"What?" I heard him ask.

"Nothing. Would you like pancakes or scrambles eggs and bacon?" Emily replied, somehow managing to keep the laughter out of her voice.

"Pancakes," Embry replied, returning to the living room. He sat down beside Jake and began to eat his breakfast. The four of us watched him as he stuffed food into his mouth. He looked up, noticing our stares.

"For goodness sake, what? Do I have food on my face?" I nodded, yep he did have food on his face, Jake had drawn a cheeseburger.

Just then, Collin and Brady walked into the living room. Brady stopped in his tracks, nearly making Collin run into him and burst out laughing, rolling around the floor. Collin stepped around his best friend and surveyed the scene before joining in.

"What!" Embry yelled, now looking even more confused. Emily and Sam entered the room, watching the scene.

"Nothing," they replied in unison. Brady got up and sat down on the armchair.

"You don't look like you got very much sleep mate, your eyes resemble a racoons," he said innocently.

Embry's eyes widened and he stood up racing out of the room. His scream could probably be heard from Forks.

I burst out laughing, trying not to fall off of Quils knee. Everyone was in hysterics, even Sam was chuckling, which was a fairly rare occurence.

Jake stood up.

"I reckon we should leave before he comes back," he announced. Quil nodded and the pair of them ran out the door, carrying me and Nessie as they did so.

We all clambered into Jake's truck and he sped down the driveway, heading up the road.


	6. Chapter 6

**Quil's POV**

**2 years later...**

_"_Wake up Quil! Come on! It's Christmas. Hurry up!"

Something small jumped onto my chest, bouncing excitedly. "Come on Quil!"

I slowly opened my eyes to see my favourite person in the world sitting on top of me, her brown eyes glowing in excitement, hair all over the place.

When I didn't move she jumped off and skipped away and out the door. Where was she going? It really was too early in the morning. Maybe I could go back to sleep?

I yawned and stretched my arms out to the sides...

"Ooomph". Great, she had just gone for a run up. I should have known she wouldn't let me go back to sleep.

"Well good morning to you too," I said, climbing to my feet. When she was least expecting it I grabbed her ankles and swung her upside down. She squealed in excitement and giggled happily. Ha, payback.

"Will you two shut up? Some of us are trying to sleep here!" Elise screeched from her room. Oops.

I gently sat her down and she pulled at my hand.

"Come on Quil. Lets go to the beach," she whispered. I shook my head playfully and followed her out the door.

Claire ran out the house and across the road to the beach. I jogged to keep up, meeting her on the sand. The air was bitingly cold and small piece of frost covered the grass. Why wasn't Claire freezing?

Things had been going really well for the past year. I worked at the garage with Jacob and Embry from Monday to Friday. Jacob spent the rest of his time with Renesmee and everything had settled down a fair bit.

Jacob was now the leader of the pack, Sam had stopped phasing in order to stay the same age as Emily. Though the pack still went to his house for food. Vampires still passed through occasionally so Jacob made sure there was at least one two people on patrol each night.

Elise pretty much ignored me and her daughter. She went to work each day at 8:00, dropping Claire off at child care on her way. I picked her up as soon as I finished work.

"Quil can you give me a piggy back ride?" The morning air, and I repeat _early _morning air was freezing cold. I should have made her bring a jacket.

"Sure," I replied, scooping her up as I walked along the beach. I held her to my chest for a few minutes to warm her up before placing her on my back.

I then continued to jog along the beach.

"Come on Quil, faster!" She giggled.

I ran faster, hopefully Claire wouldnt notice that I was going slightly quicker than the average human.

When we got to the jetty I sat her back down.

"Quil, how old are you?"

"17," I answered.

She nodded carefully before grabbing my hand and pulling me along the jetty.

"Can we go fishing soon? We could go with Billy. Jacob and Nessie could come too."

I nodded. "Okay I'll ask them. Why do you want to go fishing Claire? I thought you didnt like boats."

"I don't mind boats, its the water I don't like Quil." she told me as if I had just said the most ridiculous thing in the world.

I chuckled slightly.

"But do you like fishing Quil? You could talk to Jacob. He's 17 and I'm only 4."

"But I like talking to you Claire. You're much more fun than Jacob."

"Okay, then what about Embry? He's your friend too." I noddded.

"Yeah, he's my friend, but you're my best friend Claire."

She looked up at me.

"Are you sure?"

"Of course I'm sure."

"Okay," she nodded as if finally deciding that what I had said was true.

"But can we still go fishing?" she smiled up at me.

"Sure we can Claire."

We had reached the end of the jetty now. The sun was just beginning to rise.

Claire shivered slightly. Silly little thing was cold. How many times had I reminded her to bring a jacket? I should probably just leave her, that way she would remember next time.

"Tomorrow you are going to remember a jacket Claire."

She laughed happily.

"You always say that Quil. And then we never remember to bring one," she told me.

I glared down at her playfully.

"Well tomorrow is going to be the first," I told her.

She giggled some more and then came back to my side, lifting her arms so that I could pick her up.

"You think I'm going to keep you warm when you didn't remember to bring a jacket for the 100th time?" I asked her mockingly.

She nodded confidently. "Yep, you are."

I glared at her and then sat down on the edge of the jetty. She scrambled down next to me, holding on tightly so that she wouldnt fall into the cold water. She slipped slightly and I grabbed her without a second thought, placing her in my lap, wrapping my arms around her so that she couldnt fall into the icy water.

She smirked. Great, now I was being used as a heater, again. Her smug little face told me that she had probably slipped on purpose. I was being outsmarted by a 4 year old. Oh joy.

Once she had snuggled down into my shirt, she turned her head to look at me.

"What time do we have to be at Uncle Sam's house? Oh, and is Nessie coming?" She asked me from within my arms. I shrugged.

"Sometime around 1:00 and I think she's on holiday."

She nodded.

"We're going to be on time then," she stated.

"We would have been on time if you had let me sleep for a few more hours as well you know," I felt the need to put in.

She laughed at me.

"Yes Quil, but then what excuse would I of had to bounce on you? I wish you could have stayed asleep, I could have poured water on you. That would have been funny."

"Funny? What about poor little old me? I would be all wet!"

She giggled. "Thats the point Quil," she told me.

"So it's funny to be all wet and cold eh? I asked, looking down at the water pointedly.

She grabbed my neck.

"No Quil, its definetly not funny," she said seriously. She wrapped her small arms around my neck, looking sternly into my eyes.

"I don't know Claire. It might be funny," I easily removed her arms and held her upside down infront of me, her black curls dangling a few centimetres above the water.

"Quil!" she squealed, holding onto my arms with all her might.

I chuckled and sat her back on my lap.

"What?" I asked innocently.

She glared at me, securing her tiny arms around one of mine so that it wouldnt happen again.

This done she leaned against my stomach and closed her eyes.

"You aren't sleepy are you?" I asked mockingly.

"Yes", she replied smugly, "I am."

Evil child.

I let her rest, watching the sunrise. Some time later, she woke up, stretching slightly and blinking in the sunlight.

"Are you ready to go back now?" I asked. She nodded.

"I can walk you know Quil," she told me when we were nearly back at the house. I nodded, setting her down in the sand.

"Race you home," I told her.

She took off, running as fast as her tiny legs could carry her. I chuckled and ran after her, letting her win by a few metres. She stopped on the front porch.

Elise had already left for work.

"We need a Christmas tree," Claire told me. "Everyone else has one."

"And who is everyone else?" I asked.

"Uncle Sam and Auntie Emily," she replied. Of course.

"Your mum said she didnt want one in the house. Remember?" We had already had this conversation several times this week.

"Then we'll keep it outside," she told me brightly. Well, I couldn't argue with that idea.

I chuckled but went into the tiny wood shed that I had built a few months ago. I had to keep Claire warm. Inside was a shovel and an axe.

I picked up the shovel and scooped Claire up in the other arm, before walking deep into the forest where I had seen a small grove of pine trees.

"What about that one?" Claire asked me, pointing to a medium sized tree to her left. I nodded, placing her a distance away. The tree was fairly young, and with my strength I didn't even need the shovel.

I re-planted the tree about 2 metres away from the window behind the spare room. Well, that fixed that problem.

Claire smiled happily at the tree and disappeared into the house. She returned with a golden, plastic star and a piece of string.

"Where did you get that?" I asked.

"It was in Mums Christmas basket thingy that her friends at work gave her. She doesn't want it."

I nodded, scooping her up and putting her on my shoulders so that she could reach. When the star was firmly tied in place we watered the tree.

Claire happily skipped back into the house.

"Quil! We're going to be late!" she yelled from inside the kitchen.

She raced into her bedroom and looked through draws. "What do I wear Quil?" she said, panicking.

I laughed at her behaviour before pulling something out from behind me back.

"Merry Christmas Claire," I chuckled, handing her the present.

She stared at the package in her hands.

"Thank you Quil!" she said excitedly, jumping into my arms.

"You're welcome, now open it!" I told her. She was so cute when she was excited.

She gently opened the present, careful not to rip any of the paper. Inside was a brown dress. It had small beads sewed into the hem.

She squealed happily and held it up infront of her. It was 1 size too big for her, but I had done that on purpose so that she could grow into it.

She raced into the spare bedroom, returning wearing the dress.

"Thankyou, thankyou, thankyou!" she cried happily, doing a little twirl. I smiled down at her.

"But I don't have anything to give you Quil," she told me sadly.

I smiled and scooped her up.

"You gave me my best friend," I told her seriously. She hugged me again and then ran off to get her sandals. They had been a gift from Emily a few weeks ago.

"Can you braid my hair?" she asked me, handing me a comb and hair tie. I had done this hundreds of times by now and it was finished within minutes.

"Now I look like an Indian princess," she told me when I lifted her so that she could see herself in the mirror.

I smiled, she was gorgeous.

"In that case princess, your carriage awaits," I said with a bow towards the door.

She giggled and skipped out the door, hopping into my car. I got into the drivers seat and drove down the road. La Push was only small, so we arrived within 12 minutes.

"We're 15 minutes late Quil. Next time we're going to have to get up earlier."

"Earlier?" I groaned unhappily.

She laughed at me and jumped out of the car, waiting at the door. I grabbed her jacket and followed her up to the house.

"Hey Claire," Emily said with a cheerful smile. I noticed that Emily's stomach was slightly larger than the last time I had seen her. She wasn't due for another 3 months.

"Hello Aunty Emily. Sorry we're late," the little rascal glared playfully in my direction.

Emily nodded, trying hard not to laugh as she let us into the house.

"Was Quil being slow again?" Emily asked her innocently. The pair were completely ignoring me.

"Yep. He was so slow that I didn't even get to have breakfast. And you know what else Aunty Em?"

"What Claire?" Emily asked cheerfully.

"He nearly drop-" She started to dob me in. The little rascal.

I sneaked up behind her and swung her into my arms, tickling her as I did so. She laughed and wriggled, trying to get away.

Saved.

Emily glared at me playfully and walked into the kitchen. I sat down beside Embry, where he and the rest of the pack were watching a football match. There were so many of us that even the floor was full. Kim and Rachel looked slightly bored, but were watching the boys with amusement.

"We're here!" Claire said to them, leaping onto Jacob's lap. Jacob laughed and picked her up.

"Thats a very pretty dress Claire. You look just like Pocahontas." He told her.

"You think?" She asked delightedy. He nodded.

Claire crawled over the legs until she reached Leah. I watched carefully as she climbed into her lap. Claire would be okay, Leah tolerated anyone in her family, and she didnt seem to mind Claire.

Claire sat very still and watched the game in silence, a rare sight.

"Lunch is ready!" Emily called from the kichen. The boys leaped off of the couches and raced for the kitchen, pushing and shoving each other out of the way as they did so. Jared helped Kim up and then led her into the kitchen. Leah handed me my imprint and then joined the line where Emily was dishing up food.

"Ladies first", Emily shouted from behind the bench. I grabbed a plate for Claire and sat down at the table, balancing Claire on my lap. The others quickly joined us.

Claire giggled, and I searched the room for her source of entertainment. She squeezed my finger and nodded towards the end of the table.

Paul was stealing the meat off of Brady's plate. Brady was too busy arguing with Seth over who was going to win the football to notice. Meanwhile, Embry was taking the food off of Seth's plate. They were all doing it quietly, not letting any emotions on their faces.

Jacob noticed what was happening and happily joined in, taking the food off of Embry's plate whenever he looked the other way. The rest of the pack, and the imprints were watching with amusement, while carrying on their own conversations.

Collin moved his hand ever so slightly in my direction, without glancing my way.

Claire noticed the motion and smirked evilly. She slowly pulled Collins plate out from underneath his arms and handed it to me. I sat it behind the bench top, out of sight. This done, I released Claire and spread my arms out to either sides of my meal.

Claire went back to dipping tiny pieces of the roast potatoes in gravy, while she watched the scene before her.

After several minutes they ended the discussion, only to find empty plates. A riot broke out.

"Where did my food go?"

"Brady?"

"Give that back here this instance!"

"Cough it up!"

"You ate it?"

Collin just looked confused.

Claire was laughing hysterically, tears rolling down her face.

"Did you take my plate?"

"Give it back mutt!"

"I'm serious Embry, If you dont give it back right this second..."

"ENOUGH!" Sam yelled above the noise. Everyone quietened for a few seconds and then continued.

Emily shook her head and went back into the kitchen, returning with 3 trays of roasted potatoes and an extra 2 legs of lamb, effictively shutting everyone up. Claire kindly returned Collins plate, and he glared at her playfully.

Who knows how long it took to make all that food. Claire was still chuckling quietly to herself.

After a few minutes of silence eating, conversations broke out again while Emily served dessert. There were 3 chocolate ripple logs this time, as well as several Christmas puddings and sauces. There was also 3 plates of fruit mince pies.

I heard Elise's car coming up the road that led to Sam's driveway. Leah groaned.

"The Woman is here," Seth complained loudly.

"What do you want Claire?" I asked her, gesturing towards the food.

She shrugged.

"I'll just have some of yours. I'm not really hungry," she told me quietly. Maybe the noise level was making her nervous? More likely she heard Seth.

I listened to the conversations around me.

"There was a leech near the cliffs on Tuesday," Collin was telling Embry, relatively quietly.

I glanced down at Claire. She didn't appear to be paying any attention to the conversation, but who knows what was going on in that head of hers. Probably couldn't hear it anyway, I decided.

"Yeah, the blonde haired one was out in the North part of the forest last time I was on patrol. She's getting closer to Forks," Embry nearly whispered, glancing down at Claire.

If they continued talking, Claire was bound to hear something unusual sooner or later.

I took a slice of the ripple cake and gave Claire a spoon. She smiled slightly and set to eating the cake. Yep, she wasn't very hungry.

Elise parked the car and stomped up the stairs.

"5 , 4, 3, 2, 1 and..." Collin started off.

Slam! There goes the front door.

"The Woman has entered the building," Embry finished for him.

"Run for your lives!" Brady whisper-shouted as Elise entered the room.

Claire giggled but still looked slightly troubled.

"Hello Elise, we were just having dessert. What would you like?" Emily asked kindly.

"How about a nice mud pie," Paul whispered, lower than a human could hear. A couple of members of the pack snickered quietly, even Sam smiled.

Claire glanced up at me.

"What are they laughing about?" She whispered quietly. She was too observant for a 4 year old. I leant down closer to her ear.

"Paul reckons we should feed your mother mud pie," I told her, just loud enough that she could hear.

She smiled happily at that and went back to the cake.

"Well I see you still can't cook Emily," Elise snorted. "And those pies are probably store bought."

Sam glared at her. Emily had spent ages making those pies, and they were abviously good or 30 of them wouldnt have disappeared by now.

Emily ignored her sister and passed her a plate of cake. Elise poked at it for a few minutes before slowly putting it in her mouth, screwing up her face as she did so.

Claire rolled her eyes at her mothers behaviour and hid herself further into my arms, taking the cake with her. Elise probably hadn't even noticed her yet.

Elise pushed the cake away from her and glanced around the room. She finally noticed her daughter.

"You've been spotted," I warned Claire quietly. She looked up at me nervously, hiding her face from view.

"Claire? What in the world are you doing on poor Quil? Don't you ever think about anyone other than yourself? You hang around with Quil all the time, do you really think he wants to babysit a child for the rest of his life?" Elise asked her daughter angrily.

Claire shivered slightly. I held onto her tighter, rubbing her arm gently under the table. Trying to tell her that I didn't mind.

"There weren't any other seats, and she isn't bothering anyone," I told Elise politely. If I was rude she might not let me see Claire. I just had to put up with her.

Everyone at the table was glaring at Elise angrily. Little Claire was friends with everyone.

"You know Jacob, I think we left poor old Fluffy outside in the rain," Embry told Jacob seriously. "We should probably go and get him. You dont mind if we bring him in the house do you Sam?"

Emily looked slightly worried, but mainly amused.

"As long as he doesnt break anything or get mud all through the house," Sam replied sternly, his gaze fixed on Elise.

"Who in the world is Fluffy?" Elise asked crossly.

"Oh, he's just a poodle cross something arather. Not really sure what," Collin filled in. "Really friendly too."

I tried not to chuckle, though several others didn't quite manage it.

Embry and Jacob left the house, closing the door as quietly as possible behind them. Claire watched them go.

"Do you want me to move Quil?" Claire whispered sadly. Surely she didn't believe her mother.

"Of course not Claire. Just ignore your mum," I replied.

The house was eerily silent. Emily started clearing up the dirty plates, and wiping down the table. She took the desserts into the kitchen, out of 'Fluffys' way. The rest of the pack went back into the living room, next to the corner of the wall.

The door creaked open and Embry entered the room, leading the gigantic red wolf into the kitchen. Jacob had to duck to fit through the doors.

The pack suddenly appeared around the corner, watching the show.

Claire's eyes widened, but she didn't really look surprised.

Elise on the other hand...

"What in the world is that?" She screeched.

"Fluffy," Embry answered innocently, sitting back down at the table. Claire giggled slightly at her mother.

Jacob walked up to Elise and tilted his head to the side, licking his lips.

"That isn't anything like a poodle! Its a wolf! You realise wolves eat people right?" Elise screamed, pushing the chair away from the table.

"He's really very friendly. Never eaten a girl before... " Embry trailed off.

"Except for that woman that tried to pat him. You know, the one with dreadlocks?" More snorts of laughter.

As if to emhasize the point, Jacob snapped slightly and licked his lips again, sniffing Elise's blonde hair. He made a face and sneezed a few times. Obviously implying that she smelt.

Several people started to chuckle now but Elise was not amused.

"I don't care. I'm not entering this house until you get rid of that beast!" Elise said, storming around the table and out the door.

"I believe that was the main idea," Embry replied when she was out of hearing distance. Jacob snorted with laughter.

I carried Claire to the window to watch, walking past Jacob as I did so. Claire obviously understood the joke, she wasn't at all scared. She looked into his eyes for a brief second and then watched through the window.

Jacob bounded out after her, into the rain, and with a gentle push she fell over into the mud. Her once white dress was completely brown, her hair a sticky mess. Claire laughed happily, forgetting about the earlier incident. I ducked to the side so that Elise wouldn't see us.

The car screeched down the driveway, going into a puddle and spraying mud all over the shiny red surface.

Nearly everyone was in hystericks now, though Emily still looked slightly worried about her sisters departure.

Jacob came back into the house, human again.

"Oh, so you got him did you?" He asked Embry with a smirk.

The rest of the afternoon was fairly uneventful, save for the quiet jokes about 'Fluffy' that would be around for a while. Claire didn't say anything, content to watch everyone else. She eventually fell asleep on my lap, while we were watching a movie that she didn't particularly enjoy.

"Goodnight Emily. Thanks for lunch," I called into the kitchen where she and Sam were still cleaning up. I should have offered to help them.

"That's okay. Good luck with Elise," she replied sleepily. Hearing how tired she was, Sam picked her up and sat her on the bench top, doing the last few dishes himself.

Emily leaned over and gently stroked Claire's head. "Goodnight Claire."

I covered her with my jacket and put her in the car. She opened her eyes for a second and then went back to sleep.

Elise wasn't there when we got back, and for that I was grateful. The car was in the driveway though. Someone must have picked her up.

I slipped Claire under the blankets and tucked her in carefully. This done I shut the bedroom door and lay down beside her, falling asleep in a matter of seconds.


	7. Chapter 7

**Quil's POV**

I woke up the next morning to a faceful of water. Freezing cold water.

Claire stood beside the door, laughing excitedly, ready to make a quick escape if I moved. She had an empty cup in 1 hand. The little... I listened carefully, I didn't want to wake Elise up.

She wasn't in the house. She didn't come back last night.

I leaped out of bed and across the room. Claire darted out the doorway, slamming the door behind her and taking off down the hallway. She shut herself in the bathroom, the only room with a lock.

Click. I got there a second too late.

I heard a page turn. Did she have a book in there?

The page flicked again. Yep, this attack had been very well planned. She even had supplies stored in case of siege.

But had she thought to lock the window?

I slipped out the front door and behind the house, it had finally stopped raining. I peeked through the window, she was sitting on the floor, a picture book in hand. There was a packet of two minute noodles beside her.

I let her look at her book for a few more seconds before slowly opening the window.

I got it halfway up before it screeched and she looked up with a start. Claire squealed and raced for the door.

Locked, that gave me a few more seconds. And to add to that, the lock was old and complicated, Claire could never work out how to use it.

And yet she had managed a few minutes ago. Weird.

Claire unlocked it with a quick flick of the wrists and was out the door, laughing hysterically. How did she do that? I could have sworn she didn't know how to unlock it a few days ago.

I thought back to this morning. I had woken up at about 5:00 to a faint clicking sound. Elise wasnt in the house. Claire was in the hallway, I had asked if she needed help and she told me to go back to sleep. I had assumed she was just grabbing a snack or something.

Had she gone so far as to practise unlocking the door? How long had she been planning this? It was Embrys fault, I'm sure, he was always giving her ideas, most of them which involved something happening to me.

I pulled the window up the full length and climbed through. Great, I had lost her again. I heard a cupboard gently close from the front of the house.

The house was nearly silent, nearly. I could hear her heartbeat coming from the kitchen. I entered and pretended to look under the table, just to suspend the game.

"Now, where could Claire be?" I asked out loud. Her heartbeat picked up.

She held her breath, probably hoping that I wouldn't hear her. No such luck.

I then opened the pantry. "Nope, not in here."

A car was coming up the road, but it wasn't Elise's so I ignored it, beginning to look through the bottom cupboards, though I knew she was up the top. The car pulled up into the driveway.

I left the kitchen for a minute, peeking through the windows. There was a silver station wagon in the driveway. Great, Elise was home. That ended the game.

I made my way back to the kitchen and opened the top cupboard where she was hiding.

"A car just pulled up in the driveway, probably your mum," I told her unhappily. I wondered what she was going to have to say about last night and the 'Fluffy' incident.

Claire nodded, the smile disappearing from her face, and climbed to the front so that I could lift her down.

"Did you know where I was the whole time?" She asked suspiciously. I shrugged, not looking her in the eye.

"Seriously Quil, I was holding my breath, how did you hear me?" Claire looked confused.

"You can't really stop your heart from beating," I told her quietly. The comment didn't really make sense but she noddded anyway.

"You must have really good hearing if you can hear my heart beat," she mumbled.

I heard the car door slam and 2 people began walking towards the house.

"Looks like your mums brought a friend." Friend was the codeword Claire had come up with a few weeks ago.

Claire ran into the living room and peeked out of the window. I followed her.

Elise was walking, hand in hand with a man that obviously wasn't a native. His arms were covered in tattoos and he had at least 3 earrings in each ear. Elise giggled and lightly slapped his arm, unaware that she was being watched.

Great, Elise had another freaky boyfriend.

That man shouldn't be allowed near Claire.

"Any clue who that is?" I whispered. She shook her head, not taking her eyes off of her mother. The couple made their way to the door and the man held it open for her with a bow. Claire rolled her eyes and pretended to be sick.

"Come on," she whispered, slowly dropping the curtain back in place.

We sneaked back into the kitchen and sat down. I got the cereal and milk out, while Claire got a bowl and spoon. Claire ate her breakfast while I listened. The pair entered the kitchen.

"Oh, Good morning darling," Elise cooed, patting Claire on the head. Probably the most affection she had shown in weeks.

"Ethan, this is my daughter Claire," Elise told him. He smiled down at her.

Claire glanced at me before staring at the floor, going into what I referred to as 'silent mode'. It was more like she refused to acknowledge anyone elses existence.

"This is Ethan. He's going to be staying with us for a while," Elise told Claire as if it was no big deal.

Ethan had dark brown hair and blue eyes. Light stubble coated his chin, and he had an oversized nose. He was relatively well built but that didn't compare to a shape shifter. He was roughly 5 cm shorter than me.

Not by any stretch of the imagination was he a threat to me, but Claire was only tiny. Maye I should sleep over more often. I didn't like the idea of Claire being in the same house as him, especially at night.

Claire nodded and continued to eat her breakfast.

Ethan held his hand out for me to shake. I could tell he was putting extra strength into it and nearly snorted. Weakling.

"Quil Ateara," I told him.

He winced and I had to force myself not to smirk.

"Ethan Vancouver."

German perhaps?

"Anyway, we just wanted to tell you so that you could move Claire's stuff out of her room. We're turning it into a study for Ethans work."

They were kicking Claire out of her room? The man in front of me smelled of alchohol, though it was a few hours old.

"What sort of work do you do?" I asked Ethan.

He shrugged.

"Oh, a bit of this and that," he replied carelessly. "I work for the same company as Elly here."

Claire was pretending to gagg quietly into her cereal.

"Claire, why don't you go to your room for a minute dear," Elise ordered.

She nodded, placing her empty bowl in the sink and disappeared into her room, sneaking down the hallway to eavesdrop.

"So your Claire's babysitter?" He asked me skeptically, raising an eyebrow.

I heard Claire snort quietly from the hallway. She obviously thought she didn't need a babysittter.

I nodded. "Something like that."

"Anyway, you can go check on Claire while we have some coffee," Elise told me, nodding towards the door. I resisted the urge to glare at her and left the room through the hallway.

Babysitter indeed.

Claire went back into her room before I could see her. She sat against the wall, staring at the carpet. Still in silent mode.

I sat down next to her and pulled her into my lap. She ignored me, thinking. After a few minutes she stared up at me in question.

I smiled ruefully. "Don't pretend you weren't listening," I told her.

She smiled weakly back at me.

"How long do you think he will stay with us?" Claire asked me. Well, at least she was talking.

"I don't know Claire. Knowing your mother, probably not very long." I couldn't imagine anyone wanting to stay with Elise for any long period of time.

She smiled slightly at that. "Can you stay around so that I don't have to talk to him? Or better yet put a lock on my door?"

"I'm not sure your mum would appreciate you locking yourself in your bedroom Claire. But I can stay over a bit more if you'd like."

She nodded but still looked sad.

"Look on the bright side, the other room has a window, and its right next to your Christmas tree. And you know the best part?"

She looked up at me expectantly.

"It's further away from your Mums room!" I announced triumphantly. "We can clean it all up and it will be even better than your old one."

She still didn't look particularly happy about the new house guest.

"I don't mind swapping rooms Quil. But have you seen the man?" She shivered.

"You won't see him very often anyway Claire. I'll keep you out of the house. We can visit Aunty Emily or maybe go see Jacob."

"Okay," she said finally. "I'll get the cleaning basket, you get the vacume cleaner."

I nodded and followed her out the door. Elise and Ethan were still in the kitchen.

Within half an hour we had completely cleaned her new bedroom and moved all of her stuff. The new bedroom was slightly smaller than the old one, but it had a nice view of the forest from the window.

The only problem with it was that it was further away from the living room, therefore further away from the wood fire. I would have to get her some extra blankets so that she wasn't cold.

Claire walked up to her mattress and collapsed in a heap.

"What am I going to do Quil? The pale face is living with us. Couldn't she have picked a normal one at least?"

I chuckled and sat beside her bed.

"Doesn't have very good taste, does she?"

"Nope." Claire shook her head unhappily, picking up her book from where she had dropped it. She opened it and began looking at the pictures.

"I don't like him," she told me.

"Neither do I Claire, but its your mums decision."

"Do you think you could teach me how to read Quil?" She asked me carefully, changing the subject.

"Sure I can. It takes a bit of practice though." Wasn't she a bit young to be learning to read? And by a bit I mean a lot? I'm fairly sure I didnt learn until I was 6.

She nodded. Oh well, it wouldn't hurt to try.

"I'll go and get some paper and a pencil," she told me, running out of the room.

She returned a few minutes later. "Here we go," she said happily.

"Okay, now to be able to read you have to learn the alphabet. There are 26 letters and each one has a big one and a little one. The big ones are called capitals," I explained slowly.

She nodded and gestured for me to continue. I drew a small A on the piece of paper. "Okay, this is the letter is the big one and this is the small one."

I picked up her finger and traced the letter.

"So we start with the circle and then draw the striaght line," I made her do it a few more times then hid the paper behind my back.

"Now, trace the letter A on the carpet with your finger," I told her. She did so and I clapped.

"Good job Claire, now for the capital..."

We continued throughout the morning, until we got to Z. Claire was a good learner, she'd be reading in no time.

My phone beeped, signalling a message.

_Hey Quil,_

_Some of the pack are heading down to First Beach to go cliff diving. You can bring Claire. Emily's packing a picnic._

"Do you want to go to the beach and watch everyone do cliff diving?" I asked Claire. She nodded excitedly, putting on her shoes.

"Jacket," I reminded her. She poked her tongue out at me but complied.

The wind was blowing steadily across the cliffs. The guys and Leah were leaping and shoving each other into the waters below. Emily, Kim and Nessie were sitting on a picnic blanket, Emily reading a book in the shelter of a large rock.

"Come on Quil, hurry up," Claire told me, pulling my hand towards the females.

Kim was watching the boys nervously as they pushed each other off of the cliff. Jared fell with shout and she winced unhappily.

"Hey Claire," Nessie called happily.

"Hey Nes. What are you doing?"

"Just watching, and listening and being slighlty bored."

Claire nodded and looked over at Kim.

"Don't worry Kim, they're fine," Claire told her rolling her eyes. Kim glanced up at her.

"Still, that must hurt from such a long distance," she said. Claire shook her head.

"If it hurt they wouldn't spend hours doing it," Claire said logically. I shook my head at my imprint with a grin.

Kim was still watching unhappily.

"Seriously, he's fine. I can hear him threatening to push Jake in," I told her. Well that was partly the truth, Jarred was threatening to pull Jake's arm off if he tried to throw Kim in.

Nessie began to giggle, giving away my lie. Kim stared at her, raising her eyesbrows.

"What?" Kim asked skeptically. Nessie shrugged innocently, watching as Jacob started walking towards us.

"Oh, and Kim?"

She turned to look at me. "Jacob's going to throw you in, so I suggest locking yourself in the car".

Kim glared in Jacobs direction and grabbed onto Emily.

"Or that would work too".

Jarred came running up the cliff, shoving Jake off as he did so and the two of them fell into the water with a splash.

Claire and Nessie giggled at the show.

"Quil taught me the alphabet today," Claire told her aunt proudly, sitting down beside Nes.

"Really? That's great Claire," Emily said cheerfully. "Why don't you sit here with us girls while Quil goes diving?"

Claire nodded happily. "Okay. But can I come next time?"

"Maybe when your a bit older Claire," Emily told her. Or maybe a lot older, jumping off the cliffs was too dangerous for her.

I smiled a thankyou at Emily and went off to join the other guys, diving into the icy water. The temperature was freezing but it didn't really bother me.

I swam skilfully up to the surface, taking in a deep breath of air before swimming back to the beach for another go.

I kept an eye on Claire the whole time, Kim and Nessie were helping her read small words out of Emily's book.

Roughly an hour later we had lunch. Emily must have spent all morning making sandwhiches. I wonder if she ever got bored of looking after us. All she ever seemed to do was cook and clean.

Claire sat on my lap so that there was more room on the mat, chewing slowly on her sandwhich.

"Can we go to the beach Quil?" Claire asked when she was finished with her lunch.

I nodded, gulping down the last bit of the sandwhich within seconds.

"Can I come?" Nessie asked, pulling Jacob along with her. Claire nodded.

We walked down the narrow rock path. Claire tripped over and I scooped her up before she could touch the ground, carrying her the rest of the way.

I sat her down on the beach and she took her shoes off, placing them on the sand. This done she ran off to play in the water with Nessie. Jacob was already in the water. I chased after her, splashing through the waves.

Claire turned and swiped an armful of water at me.

"Hey! Haven't you thrown enough water at me today?" Claire shook her head gleefully.

"Nope," she replied with an innocent smile. She coated me with water again.

The battle was on, Jake and I onto the girls.

I used my entire arm, drenching them from head to toe. Claire squealed and leaped out of the way with a giggle, throwing more water at me.

We continued until everyone was soaked to the skin. Claire was shivering with cold.

I scooped her up, picking up her shoes and carried her back up the cliff. Nessie ran ahead, beating us all up the cliff. Jarred and Kim had already left and Emily was packing up the picnic rug.

"I'm going to take Claire home, okay Em," I told her. Emily nodded and handed me a large towel.

"Thanks, see ya," I wrapped Claire up in the towel and carried her to the car.

"See you Aunty Em, bye Nessie," Claire called over my shoulder.

"See you Claire," Emily replied. "Take care." Nessie just waved.

Claire giggled at the words. I sat her in the back of the car.

"You reckon mum's still at home?" Claire asked me. I shrugged.

"Hopefully not. Are you warm enough?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," she told me. "You shouldn't worry so much Quil."

I chuckled quietly to myself, pulling into the driveway. Both cars were still there.

"Great. They're still here," I grumbled. Claire sighed.

"Why don't we go through the window?" She said. "Or better yet, stay in the car and go to Uncle Sam's house? Or maybe we could go and stay with Nessie?" She wasn't really suggesting it, but still...

I shook my head. "Come on. You need to put some dry clothes on," I told her.

"What about you?" She asked me "you're all wet as well."

"Nah, I'm dry," I told her, getting out of the car. And it was true. My higher temperature meant that I dried a lot faster than normal.

Claire looked at me suspiciously, fingering my shirt. After a few seconds she decided it was dry and walked up to the front door, gesturing for me to go in first.

There was lasagna and garlic bread in the oven, the smell drifting out from the house.

"Smells like someone made dinner. Can your mum even cook?"

She sniffed the air and nodded. "She's not as good as Aunty Em. What is it?" She obvously couldn't smell it yet.

"Lasagna and garlic bread," I answered. She still didn't look too happy about going into the house.

I gave her a quick hug, wetting my shirt again and walked through the door. "Come on."

She sighed unhappily and followed me through the door. She sneaked down to her bedroom to change while I poked my head into her old room.

There was a desk and laptop in there, with a large chair and a green couch. I glared at the room.

When I asked Elise if Claire could get a proper bed she had replied that they didn't have enough money. I hadn't believed her at the time.

Elise worked full time, and most weekends. Claire didn't eat much, though I wasn't sure how much child care costed.

The furniture smelled new, they had only just bought it.

"Quil?" Claire tapped by hand. When I moved over she peered into the room. With a shrug she closed the door and followed me into the kitchen.

Elise was sitting on Ethans lap, feeding him small spoons of ice cream.

"Yuck," Claire mumbled from behind me. I resisted the urge to smile and knocked on the door to get their attention.

Elise finally looked up.

"Oh, you're home," she quickly got off of his lap and went to greet Claire, gving her a hug. Claire squirmed uncomfortably and didn't return the smile.

"We're going to have a family dinner. Quil can stay too, isnt that exciting?" Elise said in a sweet voice. The table only seated 2 people, 3 at the most if someone sat on the living room chair.

Claire nodded and turned her attention to the floor. I sat down at the table and tapped my knee for Claire to sit down. She sat did so, leaning into my chest.

Elise pulled the food out of the oven and began serving it up. She set a large plateful infront of Ethan and stroked is chin affectionately. I had to agree with Claire, yuck.

"Here you go darling," she gave Claire a quarter of the amount. Darling? Seriously? I wondered how long she was going to keep this act up.

"So Quil, what do you do for work?" Ethan asked.

"Silly man, he's still in school," Elise answered with a purr.

"Oh, really? You don't look it. Get held back?" Ethan asked, looking smug.

"No, I didn't -"

"The guys around here grow really big you know" Elise interrupted me. She kissed him gently, ending the conversation.

Claire pretended to gagg again, keeping her eyes on her meal. I watched her eat, poking at her dinner before putting a tiny bit into her mouth.

"So Claire, how old are you?" Ethan asked when Elise had gone back to her meal.

Claire ignored him.

"Claire, answer him," Elise demanded, no trace of the earlier tone.

"I'm 4," Claire answered in an emotionless tone.

"Really? You look older," he complemented her. She didn't say anything back.

"So Quil is your babysitter?" He tried again.

"No."

"So he's just your friend?" She nodded without looking up.

"That's interesting. So he spends a lot of time with you?" She nodded again.

"I wonder why." He asked to himself, but loud enough for everyone to hear.

If he was hoping for a response he would be sorely dissapointed.

He then leaned over to Elise "Doesn't talk much, does she?"

She shook her head distastefully.

Ethan didn't speak to her again, instead having a conversation with Elise.

"What did he say to mum?" Claire whipered to the floor, knowing that I would hear her.

"He just said that you don't talk much," I whispered back. It was partly true, she was shy at home, though throwing water at poor, innocent victims was apparently a different matter entirely.

Claire nodded and gestured for me to finish her meal.

"Not hungry?" I asked her.

She shook her head.

Ethan and Elise were too caught up in their conversation to hear.

Dinner eventually ended and Claire went off to have a shower.

Elise went out to the car to get some wine, leaving me with Ethan. I stood up, deciding to wait for Claire in the living room.

"Look. I don't know what you think you're playing at mate, but you had better leave Elise alone," Ethan said in a low voice. He glared at me in a way that was probably supposed to scare me.

I smirked dangerously back at him, standing at my full height. I was a fair bit taller than him and a lot more muscular. If the plan was to intimidate me then he was failing miserably.

I snorted distastefully and glared back at him.

He shrunk away, lowering his eyes.

Elise came back into the kitchen at that moment and I fixed my face with a small smile. I left the two of them to their wine and walked into the hallway, closing the door behind me.

Claire stepped out from behind the door, waiting for me. Her hair still wet from her shower She looked up at me nervously.

"What is it Claire?" I asked quietly. We were still next to the kitchen door.

"Nothing," she replied, walking into her bedroom. I followed her inside and tucked her into bed.

I waited for a few more minutes. She would talk sooner or later.

"You looked sort of scary," she whispered.

"Sorry Claire, I didn't mean to scare you." I said gently. She nodded.

"Quil, why _do_ you look after me?"

"Because you're my best friend," I told her.

"17 year olds aren't usually best friends with 4 year olds Quil. It's strange" she murmured. "And you know what else is strange?" I shook my head.

No one had told Claire that we were shape shifters. Sam didn't want to tell her until she was old enough to keep it a secret. I don't know who he thought she would tell, the only people she ever really talked to already knew.

She would probably work it out eventually. It wasn't hidden very well and Claire was smart for a 4 year old.

"What else Claire?"

"You're really warm, and you've got really good ears and your eyes look just like..."

She trailed off, falling asleep.

I wondered if she remembered that night when I had first met her. She would work it out eventually.

I wonder what Sam was going to say about it. He would probably be okay with it in the end. Claire wouldn't tell anyone.

I made sure that the door and window was shut and then lay down next to Claire. She curled up next to me, keeping warm. I held her in my arms, watching her sleep.

Nothing would happen to her. She would be safe.

Elise and Ethan were talking about work. They were sitting on the front porch by the sound of it. They would probably go to bed soon.

I ignored that thought and closed my eyes.


	8. Chapter 8

**Quil's POV**

"Quil?" A small voice murmured sleepily beside me.

I opened my eyes. Claire was sitting next to me, her eyes bright as if she had already been awake for a while.

"Well, that's a better wake up call than yesterday," I told her with a yawn.

She smiled back. "Yep. Embry said to be nice. He even gave me a picture."

Embry? What in the world had he told her to do?

There was a suspicious look to her face, she looked way too innocent.

I sniffed the air experimentally. There was the faint smell of ink in the air.

"Claire," I warned. She smirked, there was my answer.

I jumped up and raced to the bathroom, peering into the mirror. I had a large moustache, gigantic eyebrows and the whole alphabet all over my face. They were slightly squiggly, but you could tell what they were. I was slightly surprised that she remembered them all.

Yep. Claire was shy, nearly never talked. But come to waking up poor old me and she suddenly had enough confidence to draw all over my face.

I picked up a bar of soap and started scrubbing. It didn't do anything.

"Claire, was that permanent?" She didn't answer but I heard her giggle float down the hallway.

Great. How was I going to get it off?

I went down to the closet and looked in the cleaning basket. Bleech, windex. Bam... probably not the best stuff to put on my face.

I went back into Claire's room. My phone was on her pillow. I opened it to find the screen was on camera.

I scrolled through the photos, Claire had taken a little over 60 pictures of me sleeping, at different stages of her drawing. And that was just today. How did I sleep through that?

The girl in question had disappeared and was hiding in the living room.

I called Emily and Sams house. Sam picked up.

"Hello?"

"Hey, it's Quil. Can I talk to Em for a minute?"

"Sure," I heard him talking to Emily in the background.

"Hello?"

"Hey Em. How do you get permanent texta off your face?"

"Better question, how did you manage that?" She asked, sounding as if she already knew the answer.

"Claire decided it would be entertaining to give me a moustache," I told her.

Sam started to chuckle in the background. "Embry decided to get some revenge did he?"

"Hmm, try nail polish remover, or maybe methol. If that doesn't do anything alcohol would probably work," Emily was all too obviously not laughing.

"Thanks, I'd better get it off before Elise gets up. See ya."

I hung up the phone and deleted 58 of the photos, switching off the phone. A picture of me came up as the screen saver.

Claire!

I changed it back to normal and then put the phone in my pocket. Now, where would I find nail polish remover? Elise was bound to have some.

The idea of sneaking into her room when there was a guy in there wasn't very appealing. But neither was walking around with a moustache all day.

I just had to do it.

Lucky for me, Elise and Ethan were still asleep. They hadn't gone to sleep until the early hours of the morning, so they probably wouldn't be up for a while.

I slowly opened the door, and crept into the room, making sure not to look at the bed.

There was a large, pink make up bag on the dresser.

I tried to ignore the fact that Elise had so much stuff in her room. The bedroom was twice the size of Claire's. A double bed, 3 mirrors, a cupboard and a chest of draws. There was also an armchair in the corner of the room.

Yep, didn't have enough money.

I grabbed the make up bag and crept back to the bathroom. Nail polish, pink powder, eyeliner, lipstick, pink goo, coloured powders, sparkly powder, a mirror, a comb... the list went on and on. Why would anyone need this much junk?

Finally I found a bottle of nail polish remover.

It just had to be at the bottom corner of the bag. The rest of the stuff was in a pile on the bench.

I found myself a piece of cotton wool and set to wiping the ink off of my face.

It came off... slowly.

Clare started creeping up the hallway. Still didn't realise that I could hear her.

Now, what to do...

I could throw a cup of water at her...or she was ticklish... or I could wait and get my revenge later.

I decided to go with the final option. I didn't want to wake 'the troll', as Claire had kindly nicknamed her mother.

And I had to agree, it was a fairly accurate description of her personality.

The newly discovered artist was behind the door now, slowly peeking into the bathroom.

Elise's breathing quickened slightly.

She was waking up!

I threw the stuff back into the bag and raced past Claire, into Elise's bedroom, placing it back on the dresser and slipping out of the room, shutting the door behind me.

Elise let out a sigh and woke up, getting out of bed and starting towards the door.

"Claire? You had better not be up! How many times have I told you not to get out of bed before 8:00am?" Elise yelled angrily.

We hadn't been making any noise in the last few minutes, but if she had heard anything it would have been me not Claire.

The last thing she needed was to be in more trouble.

I grabbed Claire and raced down the hall, shutting the door just before Elise opened hers. That was close.

I flicked back the blankets and lay her down. Claire closed her eyes, understanding the plan. I hid in the corner behind the door.

Elise stomped down the hall, pulling the door open with a growl.

She glared into the room and stomped back out, slamming the door behind her.

"Sorry Quil," Claire murmured from her bed. I shook my head. " But you do realise that it's 8:20, don't you?" She asked me innocently. I glared at her.

"You do realise that permanent marker doesn't come off, don't you?" I replied in the same tone.

She nodded. "Yep". I rolled my eyes.

"Wait 10 minutes and then I'll meet you at the front door, okay? It will look less suspicious." I explained.

Claire nodded. "What are we going to do today?"

I shrugged. "Up to you," I told her, opening the window. It screeched annoyingly.

"We really need to get some oil for that," I muttered, slipping out the window.

I crept around the house and went up to the door, waiting a few minutes before knocking.

"Come in!" Elise yelled.

I walked through the door and into the kitchen. Elise was making herself coffee, wearing a fluffy pink bathrobe. Her blonde hair was pointing in all directions.

Ethan was awake, sitting at the table without a shirt.

I stifled a laugh and nodded in their direction.

Elise looked up for a second and then went back to her coffee, Ethan ignored me.

I walked down the hall and back into Claire's room. She had a small container in one hand, and a pastry brush in the other.

I chuckled, she was painting the window hinges with olive oil. Oh well, that would probably work.

"Claire? Could you come here for a minute sweetie?" Elise called from the kitchen.

Great. What did she want now?

Claire turned around, jumping when she realised I was right behind her.

"Sorry," I mumbled.

Claire sat the container beside the window and walked out the door. I followed closely behind.

Ethan had found himself a brown shirt in the past few minutes and was now putting on a pair of black shoes.

"Sit down honey," Elise gestured towards the chair. Claire sat down, refusing to meet her mothers gaze.

I positioned myself behind her, leaning against the bench.

"Claire, Ethan has decided to take you to the city today. Isn't that exciting? He's going to spend the whole day with you," Elise said excitedly.

Ethan had a fake smile plastered on his face.

The whole day with Ethan? On her own? Not going to happen.

"What about Quil?" Claire asked quietly.

"Pardon?" Elise asked.

"What about Quil, is he coming?" She spoke louder this time.

Elise shook her head.

"You don't need Quil around all of the time. Today you can get to know Ethan," Elise said, still in the same sweet tone. "It will be really good fun. You're going to go to the museum and the art show and if you're good you might even get ice cream."

A museum and an art show, every three year olds dream.

"But why can't he come as well?" Claire persisted.

"Because he is not part of this family. End of discussion. Go and get ready." The sweet tone vanished, this was an order.

What, and Ethan _was_ part of the family?

"Quil, you need to have left within 10 minutes," she told me sternly.

Claire got up from the table and went to her room. I glared at Ethan, he sneered back.

There was no way I was leaving Claire alone with him for the day.

I stood at the table in silence, waiting for her to change. Elise and Ethan igored me, going back to their conversation. They didn't speak about the trip, probably aware that I was listening.

Claire entered the room a few minutes later. I shook my head at her choice. She was wearing jeans and a plain black shirt with a pair of sneakers.

She would blend into the background among all of the people in the city. Ethan would loose her almost instantly.

Maybe that was the point.

"You ready?" Ethan asked her.

She nodded, standing infront of me. She looked like she was going on a death march. To a stranger she would look emotionless, but I could see the fear in her eyes. Poor little Claire.

I wrapped my arms around her and she relaxed slightly.

"Don't worry, I'll hang around," I whispered into her ear. Her expression didn't change but her eyes grew considerably brighter.

"Quil. Out. Now," Elise growled at me.

I nodded and stepped out of the kitchen, getting into my car and driving away.

I parked the car infront of my house and raced inside, throwing on a grey hoodie before running into the kitchen.

"Mum, can we swap cars for the day?" I asked quickly. Ethan might recognise my car but he had never seen Mums.

She saw my rush and didn't ask questions, throwing me the keys and turning back to her cooking. I put my own on the table and ran back out of the house, nodding to my grandfather on the way.

"Teenagers," I heard him chuckle to himself. I didn't have time to reply.

I boarded the train, checking four carriages before I found my imprint. I kept my hood down, watching the pair of them.

Claire was sitting at the end of the carriage, on a seat oposite to Ethan, staring at the floor. She had allowed her black curls to fall across her face, blocking her off from the rest of the world. Ethan was on his laptop, not paying her any attention.

I sat a few seats away, facing Ethans back. I was only there to observe, and step in if Claire needed help.

I must look like some sort of stalker, I though to myself with a chuckle.

The doors closed and the trip began. Ethan immediately took his ipod out of his pocket and began listening to music.

After several minutes Claire finally looked up, noticing my staring for the first time. She studied me for a few seconds and then quickly glanced around the room before returning her attention to me. The hood was keeping my face in shadow, and the train was fairly dark, she probably couldn't see my face.

She would be okay.

After an hour we reached a tunnel, the train travelling in complete darkness for several minutes before stopping in an underground station. I quickly glided to the door before Ethan could look up from his laptop.

I stepped up onto the platform, looking into the crack of darkness below. Claire might need some help getting over it.

The ceiling was at least three stories high. There were small shops all along the sides, selling coffee and hot food. I could smell cinnamon doughnuts and hot chips. There was chicken and lamb roasting somewhere to my left.

I stepped into the crowds, quickly blending in, Ethan would never notice. I walked for a distance before sitting down on a nearby bench, turning to watch.

It took me a few minutes to spot them. Ethan was striding along infront, heading for the main exit, Claire already several metres behind.

They passed my position and headed up the ramp, into the main shopping centre. I followed roughly five metres behind Claire, making sure I wasn't seen.

Ethan turned left, past the main shops and out the doors. Claire was now even further behind. I could see her glancing around, trying to work out which route he had taken. She was too small to be able to see over the people.

I stepped up behind her and tapped her shoulder. She jumped and spun around. Her eyes were wide and scared.

"It's okay," I told her. She didn't respond.

I picked her up and gave her a hug, silently pointing out where Ethan was from my height. Being tall really had its advantages.

He still hadn't turned around to look for her. I wasn't really surprised, I had gotten used to Elise's style of parenting, or rather, her lack of it.

"Thanks," Claire whimpered, cuddling into the space between my neck and shoulder.

I quickly strode through the crowds, catching up with Ethan. When we were close enough to Ethan, I sat her back down and disappeared into the crowds once again.

There was slightly less people outside and she ran to catch up with him. They walked past a large fountain. Claire looked at it for a second and then focused on keeping up.

Ethan finally noticed her, but didn't say anything.

They walked for about 20 minutes before arriving at the museum. Claire was walking slower, her feet were probably hurting already.

Couldn't they have taken the bus, or maybe a taxi?

There was a line of fountains on each side, and several steps that led down into a small park infront of the museum.

To the left of the building there was a small cafe and to the right there were several automatic glass doors.

Ethan glanced behind him and I stopped at the fountains to look at the water. He didn't see anything unusual and entered the museum, not waiting for her. I waited until she was inside before jogging down to the entrance.

It opened into a wide, tiled room. There were red velvet stairs leading to the next floor. Claire and Ethan went through a dark, double doorway and into another room. I followed, not far behind.

Claire stopped to look in a window. There were Indian artifacts. Old woven baskets, spears and many other things. Ethan left her there, disappearing around the corner.

She waited a few moments before following him.

After 20 minutes it became obvious that he was trying to loose her. They would enter a room and he would walk straight past each exhibit, not even glancing at them. Whenever Claire slowed down he would walk even faster.

Claire eventually stopped, worn out, and sat down on a sofa. She didn't relax, looking nervously around the room. Ethan had already left.

She waited for a few minutes before getting up and studying the animal exhibits. Ethan was far away by now. I wonder what he planned on telling Elise.

Poor little one. She must be so tired.

An older lady came up to her. The grandmotherly kind, wearing light purple clothes with her silver hair up in a bun.

"Are you okay darling?" she asked kindly. "You look sort of lost".

Claire treated the old lady with a tired smile.

"I'm fine thanks," she replied nicely.

I came out from behind the hallway and went to stand behind her. The old woman looked at me suspiciously.

Claire noticed the womans glare and turned around.

"There you are," she sighed happily, lifting her arms for me to carry her. I picked her up and she snuggled into my shoulder, closing her eyes.

The woman glared at me again before leaving to join her husband.

I looked at the exhibit she had found so interesting.

It was a pair of grey wolves.

_Canis lupus_

Great. What had she been thinking about?

Next to them was a brown bear and several otters, but they weren't anything special.

Claire opened her eyes and blinked sleepily.

"They're really small Quil," she mumbled. "The other ones are much bigger. These ones may as well be puppies," she told me.

I wasn't sure what to tell her. The wolves in La Push were much bigger, but we weren't exactly normal.

"The giant wolves in La Push are special Claire," I said finally.

She nodded, not pressing it any further. We looked at the other animals. There were gigantic moose that would have been the same size as a horse and many types of birds.

Claire was content to be carried around, dozing off every now and then.

"Can we see the giant octopus Quil?" Claire asked me. I nodded and stepped into the dark room.

We looked down through the glass floor. I couldn't see much but Claire liked it. She played with the machines for a while, listening to information regarding the octopus.

We looked at mummies, which Claire declared 'gross and smelly', promptly leaving the room. We looked at old ships and dinosaurs as well as many other things. Claire was having a brilliant time and even I was enjoying myself.

After a few hours we had finished with the museum and headed back to the enterance. I saw Ethan at the cafe in the distance and sat Claire down.

"What?" she asked me.

"Ethan's just over there," I told her, pointing him out.

"I don't see him Quil, it's too far away," she told me. I forgot that my eyesight was better than hers.

"Sorry. You see the bench underneath the whale looking thingy?" I asked.

She nodded.

"Okay, next to the bench is a guy wearing a big blue shirt."

She nodded again. "You mean the fat one?" I ignored that comment, but I had to agree with her, they guy was well rounded.

"And next to him is a guy in a red shirt and a woman in a black dress. And on the table next to that is Ethan. Wearing the brown shirt," I explained.

"Okay, I see him. Are you going to stay?" She asked me nervously.

"I'll be around," I told her. I leaned down and gave her a hug.

"See you," she whispered, walking over to Ethan.

I quickly found a table in the area and sat down, pretending to look at a random book on the shelf.

The old lady and her husband were having coffee and cake nearby. As Claire walked past, the woman stared at her, watching as she sat down beside Ethan.

Ethan ignored her, eating what looked to be his third ice cream sundae.

After a few minutes Ethan stood up, leaving the table. He walked right past me but didn't look in my direction, his attention on the museum exit. Claire followed behind, taking a faster route around the tables, she didn't see me.

The woman watched them go.

I waited a few minutes and then followed the pair. Ethan was was walking quickly down the footpath. I hadn't been to the city very many times, but even I knew that the art show was in the opposite direction.

Claire was running along beside him, drawing several strange looks.

I picked up the pace, the crowds were getting larger and it was harder to see them, they went around a corner and disappeared from sight. I caught up to Ethan but couldn't see Claire.

Where was she?

I frantically searched through the crowds, if I lost her now anything could happen. She was so small that it was nearly impossible to see her in a crowd like this.

What was I going to do?

After 5 minutes of searching, Claire solved the problem for me. She had climbed onto a stone wall to get a better look , roughly 10 metres behind Ethan, looking lost and frightened.

Ethan still hadn't looked back, he and Elise were a perfect match.

I cut to the right, walking beside the wall until I came up behind Claire. She was whimpering quietly, her breath coming in ragged little gasps. Poor little thing.

I slid my hands under her arms and picked her up. She didn't jump this time, instead just leaning into my shoulder and closing her eyes.

I would have felt better if she had at least checked who was carrying her before going to sleep, but then again, she could probably tell.

She was so tired, how was she going to manage an art show as well? Though Ethan didn't appear to be going in the right direction anyway.

I continued to follow him, he went through to the market. I gently touched Claire's shoulder and she opened her eyes, looking around in wonder.

There were many different delicious smells, bakeries, fruit, cooking meat, chocolates, ice cream, doughnuts, frying dough and lots of other things.

Ethan went straight to the chinese bakery, buying himself several custard polos. It looked like a sugary bread roll, filled with warm custard with a small amount of meringue on top.

They looked great. I couldn't really complain about how much he was eating since I ate a fair amount myself, but still, he was verging on pig-like.

This done he went to a chocolate stall, buying a small bag of fudge and several chocolate love hearts, sprinkled with hundreds and thousands. Probably for Elise.

He was going to need them if he lost her only daughter. For a moment I wondered how Elise would react. Would she be upset?

Ethan exited the market and I followed. He would eventually notice Claire's absence, I had to put her back down.

"Claire?" she opened her eyes.

"He's going to notice eventually. I'l put you down and you just try to keep up, okay? If you're lost for more than 10 minutes stand on something tall and I'll come get you," I told her gently.

I sat her down and watched as she ran over to Ethan. If he noticed her presence he didn't say anything. Ethan strode off down the road, turning into a large shopping centre. They walked past several young men in black, who watched with a smirk. One of them pulled up his hood and followed after them.

Oh no you don't. I caught up, following the group. Claire looked over her shoulder, noticing the man for the first time. She gasped quietly and stepped closer to Ethan, though I doubt he would provide much help. She looked around, not noticing me where I was standing beside a vending machine.

Ethan turned into a large shop, completely ignoring Claire who was currently shivering beside him. He walked around for a few minutes, not doing anything in particular before heading out another exit.

The man followed them for another half an hour as they wandered from store to store, Ethan buying snacks as they did so. He never noticed, though Claire kept an eye on him at all times. They exited the chocolate shop and walked along a footpath, Ethan turning into another shop when Claire wasn't watching.

She realised that he was gone and took a quivering breath, noticing that the man was still only a few metres behind her. He took off his hood and smiled at her gently.

"Hello darling, you look a little lost. Would you like me to drive you home?" He asked her in a faked kind voice. Claire shook her head, taking a step in the opposite direction. I wish that I could punch him, send him unconscious on the ground. But I couldn't cause a scene.

"No thank you, I'm fine," she stuttered out.

"Are you sure? My car is just over there and we can stop for icecream on the way," he came closer, cornering her into the alley.

Enough. I strode towards the pair, twisting his arm behind him in a painful grip.

"That really won't be necessary," I said icily, shoving him to the ground and stepping infront of Claire. He looked up at me angrily.

"And who might you be?" He asked. The man that is going to kill you if you haven't left within the next 10 seconds.

"Does it really matter?" I folded my arms, looking him square in the eyes.

"I would say so," he replied. He stood up, glaring at me coldly before turning and disappearing into the crowds.

I made sure he was gone and then turned to Claire. As I did so I noticed that Ethan was making his way out of the shop, glancing at the shelves as he did so. I darted out of the way and into the dark empty alley, faster than the human eye. Claire was the only one that noticed, though she couldn't see where I had gone.

She was still shaking, but walked quickly beside Ethan, keeping her eyes on him so that she wouldn't loose him again.

Maybe I could follow the man? I decided against the idea, I had to wach Claire.

Ethan turned down a road, waving down a taxi and stepping inside. Claire glanced around for a few seconds before following him. I memorised the number plate.

How was I going to follow them now?

I listened carefully, just hearing the name of the place mumbled before the taxi pulled away.

The Casino? He was taking a 2 year old to a casino.

Surely I had heard incorrectly.

Either way the casino was the only clue I had. I thought back to the map I had memorised this morning in the car.

The casino was on the corner of North Terrace. By car it would take about 10 minutes to reach, but the streets were crowded so it might take longer.

If I cut through Harrison Street, and then crossed over Jefferson Road I should be able to make it in time.

I ran as fast as possible without arousing suspicion. There was no way Claire was going inside on her own.

I arrived after 8 minutes, not even breathing heavily. I entered with a group of teenagers, sliding unoticed into the room.

The stench of alcohol filled the air, overpowering the smell of the buffet.

It was fairly dark, with colourful lights flashing and music so loud that it hurt my ears.

There were several empty sofa's all around the room. I sat down on one in a dark corner, waiting to see if they would come. No one noticed me, all too busy with their own entertainment.

Ethan entered roughly 10 minutes later, Claire staying close at his side. He ignored her and went straight to the bar, downing three shots within seconds before heading into the games room.

_People under 18 not permitted._

Claire didn't follow him, instead sitting down on the stairs a few metres away from me, staying in the shadows. A man started in her direction, stumbling drunkenly. Claire winced and backed away, the earlier fear returning to her eyes.

"Hello, what's your name?" he asked her, taking another step forward. He didn't get any further.

I was infront of Claire in a flash, glaring coldly down at him. I was sick of these people.

I pushed him away from my imprint and he fell to the ground, wobbling in his attempt to get back up. I crossed my arms over my chest and studied him for a few seconds. He was only in his youth, thin and pale, no competition if he decided to fight.

He rolled his eyes at me but crawled away a few steps, noticing my size. He finally made it to his feet and stumbled back to his friends, even drunk he wasn't going to start a fight he couldn't win.

The guy was an idiot, Claire was only a child. I would have liked to gone after him but she was watching.

I walked back to the sofa, blending into the darkness where no one was watching. Claire followed and sat down beside me.

I pulled her into my lap, wrapping my arms around her, making sure she was safe.

"Are you okay?" I asked gently. She nodded, shivering and huddling into my chest.

"Why don't you go to sleep, I'll wake you up if I see him," I told her. The poor little girl looked tired and scared, even though she was safe in my arms.

She continued to shiver, though I wasn't sure if she was scared or just cold. She didn't have her jacket, yet again, and this area of the room was far away from the heater, probably why no one else was over here. It might have been both.

"Are you going to stay here?" she asked me, looking up with scared brown eyes.

"Of course." I wasn't letting her out of my sight. She nodded, resting her head.

I unzipped my jacket and cuddled her into my chest, wrapping the fabric around her. Claire sighed, closing her eyes and hiding her face in the fabric. After a few minutes the shivering stopped and she relaxed, falling asleep.

I held onto her as she slept, keeping watch for Ethan. He came back to the bar several times, but never looked for Claire. I watched him drink his 8th beer uncomfortably. He was well and truly drunk by now.

I saw him go up and talk to a girl in a skinny red dress. Elise wouldn't be pleased, but really, what did she expect? After a few minutes he returned to the game room.

I spent the rest of the time planning on what to do when Claire woke up. There was no way I was letting her go back with Ethan in his state.

Claire woke up about 2 hours later, looking much better than before.

"Any sign of him yet?" she asked me with a tiny yawn.

"He's drunk, had at least 12 drinks," I told her, she shuddered.

"What are we going to do?" She asked, looking up at me.

"He'll probably pass out soon, if he hasn't already," I told her.

"And then what?" She cut in.

"Then we leave him here. You can tell your mum that you got lost and went back to the train station to wait for him. When you get back, ask a kind looking lady if you can use her phone and call Elise to come pick you up," I told her.

"Mum won't want to pick me up," Claire told me.

I nodded. "She has my phone number, she'll either call me or Emily," I explained. "Then I'll drive you home. If she asks, the last time you saw him was entering the casino."

Claire nodded. "When is the train leaving?"

"The last one is at 6:00," I replied. It's only 5:00, so we can stay around for a bit longer before we have to leave," I explained.

"Okay, can we just go back and wait for the train? I don't want to stay here," Claire said.

I nodded, standing up. I didn't want to stay here either.

There were more people arriving now, the nightly entertainment would begin in a few hours.

I walked slowly back to the train station, stopping at several stores and statues that Claire wanted to look at.

We finally arrived at the station and boarded the train. Claire stayed inside my jacket, keeping warm.

"One of these days, you are going to remember your jacket Claire," I mocked. She laughed and looked out of the window, watching the scenery fly by.

The train screeched to a stop and we got off. I put Claire down and sat on a bench where I could watch her.

She looked around for a few seconds before walking over to a woman with two young children.

"Excuse me," Claire said nervously. The woman turned around.

"Are you lost sweetie?" the woman asked kindly. Claire nodded.

"Could you please call my mum? I know her phone number," Claire asked.

The woman noddded.

"Of couse I can, you just tell me the numbers, okay?"

Claire nodded and told her the numbers. The phone rang for a few seconds before Elise picked up.

"Hello? This is Elise speaking," Elise said politely from the other end.

"Hey, this is Miranda speaking. I've got a little lost girl here at the train station, would that be your daughter?"

"Oh of course! I've been looking for her everywhere, I'll be there in a few minutes. Thankyou so much!" Elise cooed from the other end of the phone.

I had to hand it to her, she was a good actress.

"Okay, I'll let her know. Bye." Miranda said, hanging up. She turned to Claire.

"Your mum's going to be here in a few minutes, okay?" Miranda said. "You just wait here and she'll find you. I have to go now, see you."

Claire nodded, "Thankyou!" She said happily.

Miranda boarded the train just before it pulled away.

Once she had left Claire came and sat down beside me. A few seconds later my phone rang. The called ID read 'Elise'. I smiled and clicked answer.

"Hello?"

"Quil, Claire needs to be picked up at the train station. I don't know where Ethan is, bye," she rattled out before hanging up.

I shut my phone and chuckled.

"It worked," I told Claire with a grin. She smiled back and we headed for the car.

"Who's car is this?" she asked me as I unlocked it.

"My mothers," I told her.

"You have a mother?" She asked, her eyesbrows raised in surprise.

I laughed at her expression.

"Of course I do, I've got a grandfather too," I told her. "Where did you think I lived?"

She shrugged. "I don't know, in the forest?"

"In the forest?" I replied amusedly.

"Well, I don't know, you never told me so I assumed you didn't want to talk about it," she replied uneasily.

I chuckled. I hadn't spent much time with my family since I imprinted, but they were both okay with it. I'm fairly sure my grandfather had explained everything to mum.

"Okay then. When I'm not at your house I live with my mum and my grandfather. His name is also Quil, so technically I'm Quil junior." I explained.

Claire nodded.

"Can I meet them someday?" She asked.

"Of course you can, just not today. I'm sure they would love to meet you." Especially grandfather, he knew that I had imprinted but had never actually met Claire.

Claire climbed into the back seat and I started driving back to my house. I couldn't return in a different car.

"Are you sleeping over again tonight?" She asked.

I glared at her playfully. "Depends if someone has any plans for tomorow morning," I told her. Who knew what else Claire had thought of.

Either way, I was still going to stay over. I didn't know what time Ethan would get back but I wanted to be there when he did.

I pulled into the driveway and ran inside, leaving Claire standing next to my car. I swapped over the keys and ran back out without a word.

Elise was on the phone when we got back.

"Where have you been young lady? And where is Ethan? He's probably worried sick," Elise yelled angrily.

"I don't know where he is mum. I lost him when he went into the casino. There were lots of people and I couldn't see," Claire said nervously.

"The casino? Why in the world were you in a casino? You know what, it doesn't matter, go to your room!" Elise shouted.

Claire did as she was told, running down to her room. Elise ignored me, picking up the phone and dialing his phone number again.

I heard the shower start running so I went and sat in the living room. Elise stormed through the house, re-dialing his number again and again.

If he didn't pick up the first, second, third or fourth time I was doubtful he would on the fifth attempt. Elise didn't seem to be able to process this information.

After a quick dinner of two minute noodles Claire wanted to watch a movie so I put on Ice Age and settled down to watch. Claire sat beside me, watching the movie happily.

It was at 10:00 that I heard the car pull into the driveway. Claire opened the curtains a fraction and peered through. There was a police car in the driveway, Charlie Swan was escorting a very drunk Ethan out of the car.

"Elise, there's a cop in the driveway," I called.

She rushed to the door, fixing her hair. He knocked on the door and Elise quickly opened it.

Claire climbed into my lap, hiding herself back inside my jacket. I wrapped it back around her, hiding the small body from view.

"It's okay Claire, its just Nessie's grandpa. He's nice," I told her. She calmed down a bit but didn't move.

"Good evening ma'am, would you mind if I came in for a minute?" Charlie asked. Elise nodded and they entered the house. Ethan was still awake, much to my surprise and looked angry.

Chalie sat down on the couch, gesturing for Ethan to do the same. He noticed me for the first time.

"Ah, Quil, and young Claire is it?"

Jacob had told him about the pack a few months ago, when he imprinted on Renesmee. Charlie would understand my position.

"So you must be Elise, yes? Emily's sister?" He looked at Elise for confirmation. He had obviously been told something from Jacob because he was watching warily.

Elise nodded.

"Okay, I was called in to the casino. They found this guy," he nodded towards Ethan, "disturbing the public. They looked him up and worked out he lived in my area, so I had to escort him home," Charlie said.

You could tell he wasn't very pleased about this.

"He hasn't been very cooperative," Charlie said tiredly. "You will receive a fine in the mail in a couple of weeks," he finished.

Elise glared angrily at her boyfriend.

"Ethan, can I talk to you for a moment?" She said sternly. He stumbled down the hall after her. Elise slammed the door behind them.

Charlie sighed.

"Tough day?" I asked him.

"You have no idea," he replied.

Claire peered through the fabric at Charlie. He smiled back at her.

"Well, I'd better be off, have to make dinner yet," Charlie said, "he was getting a bit violent, watch out for the little one," he told me, standing up and heading to the door.

"Thanks Charlie," I said.

"Have a good night," he called over his shoulder, closing the door behind him.

I could hear Elise getting stuck into Ethan, though he didn't seem to be replying. Elise yelled a bit more and then stormed out of the room.

"Quil, get him out of the house. Now," she ordered. "Lock him in his car without the keys or something."

Claire shivered and huddled back into my chest.

"I'm not sure if that's the best of ideas Elise. Why don't we just give him a sleeping pill and leave him in the living room?" I suggested.

"I'm sorry, I'll re-phase that. Get him out of my house or I will move out of the state and you will never see Claire again."

I sighed and placed Claire down on the couch. I threw her a blanket and then walked into Elise's room.

Elise waited in the hallway.

Ethan had collapsed on the floor, but was very much awake. When I entered he looked up at me, glaring savagely. I approached and he kicked out at me, I jumped closer to him, grabbing his arms and twisting them painfully behind his back, dragging him into the hall.

When we arrived in the living room he threw his head back, at the same trying to kick me. I was sick of this, he was going to hurt Claire. With one punch to the side of the head he collapsed. He was out almost instantly, unconscious but still alive.

I picked him up and threw him over my shoulder easily, waiting for Elise to open the door. Claire watched fearfully from her hiding place under the blankets.

Elise unlocked the car and I opened a window slightly, even unconscious he still needed to breathe. I then placed him inside, locking the door before closing it.

Someone was going to have to deal with him in the morning, and I seriously hoped it wasn't going to be me.

With this done I went back inside, scooping up the small figure on the couch and carrying her to bed.

What a horrible day. At least Claire was safe.

I moved the draws up against the door and made sure that the window was locked. Certain that Ethan wouldn't be able to get in without waking me, I lay down beside Claire.

She was shivering again. I climbed under the blankets and pulled her close to me, encircling her tiny body with my arms. She stopped shivering and relaxed some, drifting off to sleep.

Little did I know that when we got up the next morning, Ethan would have left without a goodbye. We wouldn't see him for years to come.


	9. Chapter 9

**Quil's POV**

**A few months later...**

I woke up to the sound of light footsteps coming out of Elise's room. She went into the kitchen and put the kettle on to make herself a cup of coffee. It was 5:00 in the morning, according to my phone, what happened to the 'don't get up before 8:00' rule? Apparently that rule only applied to Claire and I.

Claire was curled up next to me, her little face pressed into my chest. She was probably cold, the house didn't have an air conditioner and the wood fire in the living room had gone out hours ago. She was wearing a black shirt and a pair of shorts underneath one of my old grey shirts. My shirt was way too big for her, reaching just above her ankles like an oversized night gown.

It was sort of weird that I could wake up to the slightest of noises, other than Claire. Maybe I was just trained to wake up at the sound of danger, and my imprint didn't count. But what would happen if your imprint _was_ the danger? Would you still sleep through it as they attacked?

I shook these thoughts from my head. Claire was about as dangerous as a newborn puppy. Completely defenceless.

But what about other imprints?

A car drove up the driveway, the door closing gently and heavy footsteps walked up to the door. A male, wearing heavy shoes. The man hesitated for a moment before entering the house without knocking. He gently shut the door and walked up the hallway, his boots padding quietly on the carpet.

I released my tiny imprint, realising that I had been holding onto her too tightly. It was a surprise that she hadn't woken up yet, Claire was usually a light sleeper. But then again, she had stayed up late last night to watch Finding Nemo, must be tired.

I gently brushed her curls away from her face and settled her under the blankets. Her breathing pattern changed for a few seconds, but then went back to normal as she fell back to sleep. I carefully got up and went to stand beside the door.

Whoever he was, he wasn't getting anywhere near Claire.

The man paused at the kitchen door, and gently knocked on the wood. So he would knock on the kitchen door, but not the front one? Elise had heard the noise and opened the door. I heard her gasp, but it didn't sound scared, just surprised.

Neither of them spoke, but they went outside and got in the car, driving away.

It was only 5:00 am, what were they doing at this hour of the morning? Was the man dangerous? Was he forcing her to go with him? It didn't really sound like it, but I couldn't see what was going on.

I listened for a few more minutes before creeping out into the kitchen. The kettle was still boiling, a black mug with a teaspoon of coffee powder inside still sitting on the bench.

She had abandoned it, and quickly left the house. Sort of strange behaviour coming from Elise.

Nothing else was out of place, but I could smell the faint scent of lipgloss in the air. Elise had put makeup on, at 5:00 in the morning. She obviously knew that the man was coming, it had been planned.

There wasn't anything weird about Elise going out, she had dated several others since Ethan, but seriously, at 5am? Maybe she just didn't want us to know about it.

Oh well, if she didn't want us to know about it, I would go along with it. Unless Claire asked, in which case I would automatically tell her.

I went back into Claire's room. She was shivering, the air must be colder than I realised. I slid back into bed and put my arms around her. She sighed in contentment and snuggled up to me. I couldn't help the smile that made its way onto my face.

She was beautiful, and she was mine.

I woke up again to the slamming of doors. Couldn't someone teach her to close them gently? My poor, aching ears. Not to mention the doors.

Claire slowly opened her brown eyes, blinking a few times before focusing.

"Morning," she whispered.

I nodded and put my finger to my lips, gesturing for her silent, listening in on the conversation.

"We should just tell them, then they can start packing and get ready. Claire can't pack on her own anyway," Elise said quietly.

Tell us what? Why would we need to pack?

"Why don't you just pack for her and tell her you're going to get ice cream. She'll get in the car, you drive there, drop her off and come home. Easy." A male voice replied.

"Quil, whats going on?" Claire asked me nervously. I sat up and pulled her into my lap.

"Elise has a guy over. They're talking about taking you somewhere, dropping you off," I told her.

"Where?" she whispered.

"I don't know, they haven't said yet," I replied with a shrug.

"She wouldn't fall for that, I never get her ice cream. We're telling her." Elise stated firmly.

"She's coming," I warned Claire.

Elise started up the hallway. I leaped out of bed and stood at the window. Claire lay back down, pretending to sleep.

The door slammed open and Elise entered. She glared at me before turning to Claire. When she saw the sleeping figure her eyes softened slightly for a few seconds before returning to their normal state.

"Pick her up and meet me in the living room," Elise ordered, turning on her heel an marching back down the hallway.

I gently picked Claire up and followed Elise down the hall.

So this was the man that Elise had left with this morning.

The man was sitting nervously on the couch, at least 5 foot 8, tanned, but not a native, with black hair and dark brown eyes. He was wearing a black suit and tie, looking completely out of place in the run down living room.

Much better than Elise's normal friends.

I sat down and re-arranged Claire on my lap. She opened her eyes and looked at her mother. Elise glared back at her and she winced slightly in my arms. Claire then turned her attention to the man and studied him for a few moments, before staring at the floor.

"Claire and Quil, I would like to introduce you to Brock," Elise said happily. "Brock, this is my daughter Claire and her babysitter Quil."

I was fairly used to being called the babysitter by now, it was better than trying to explain my position.

"Pleasure to meet you," Brock said kindly, holding his hand out for me to shake. I shuffled Claire onto my other leg and leaned over her to shake his hand. Brock then held his hand out for Claire to shake. She glared at the offending hand and shrunk away from it.

Her expression clearly said 'no way.'

Someone wasn't in a very good mood this morning, and I couldn't really blame her. Elise had a new 'friend' every week. They would come in, smiling fakely and being polite. Hang around for about a week, sleep over several times, depending on how much Elise liked them, and then disappear. It was a never ending cycle.

Claire was obviously sick of it.

Brock raised his eyebrows and slowly withdrawed his hand.

"So, how old are you darling?" He asked her skeptically.

Claire shrugged and turned her head onto my shoulder. Flat out refusing to play.

Elise glared at her, but she wasn't looking in her mothers direction, so the effect was kind of wasted.

"Claire, if you don't be polite Quil is going to have to leave," Elise said sternly. Claire gripped my arms tighter but turned and glared at the man.

"I'm 4 years old," she said icily. Brock looked surprised.

"You act much older. My three year old can barely talk at all. But I suppose you are a year ahead."

Claire froze on my lap.

He had a daughter? Was he married?

I quickly glanced down at his hand, no ring. So he was either divorced or... Elise was bad, but I don't think she would go out with a man that was married.

Seeing our startled faces, he began to explain.

"My wife and I divorced a couple of years ago. It just wasn't working out. I have a beautiful daughter called Petunia."

Petunia? I could just imagine her now, a little girl in a pink frilly dress with blonde hair and blue eyes.

"You're going to love her, you can be friends, Won't that be exciting?" Elise nearly squealed.

Claire wasn't looking very excited about the idea, but smiled slightly and nodded her head.

"You can meet her tomorrow darling, for now you're going to be visiting some of my dear friends," Elise said, giving her daughter another hug.

"For how long?" Claire asked. Brock looked slightly surprised that she was talking on her own accord.

"I'll pick you up at 7:00. Okay?" Elise answered.

Claire noddded.

"Where do they live?" I asked skeptically.

Elise licked her lips. Not the best sign.

"Not very far away. An hour at the most," she said. Claire buried herself deeper into my arms.

An hour at the most? I couln't leave Claire alone, she might get hurt.

Perhaps I could go as well? Looking at their expressions I didn't think that looked like a possibility.

"You will be leaving in 15 minutes so you'd better get packing," Elise said.

I could always go as a wolf, I decided. Claire wouldn't see me but at least I would be able to watch her.

But what if it was in a city? There couldn't exactly be a horse sized wolf running around.

Mc Donalds was open all night, wasn't it? I could sleep in the kids playground area. Not the most comfortable spot, but I could squish a blanket and cushion into a bag.

What if there wasn't a Mc Donalds?

Worst comes to worst I could sleep in a park. Sure, I would look homeless, but I could still look after Claire.

With that happy thought in mind I took the bag that Elise was offering and stormed back to Claire's room.

I would look after her. She would be fine.

I left Claire to pack and went into the kitchen. The directions to the house were written on a piece of paper, resting on Elise's handbag. I read over them quickly before returning to Claire's room. At least it was in the country, I could go as a wolf.

Claire looked nervous. I would be too if I was going to stay at a strangers house for the night. Had Claire even gone for a sleepover before? I smiled down at her.

"You'll be fine Claire. Can't be too much worse than your mum," I told her.

She smiled slightly.

"Okay, I'm ready."

I picked up her belongings and walked down to the car. When everything was ready I picked Claire up and hugged her carefully before placing her in the car.

Elise got into the drivers seat. I felt a painful tug in my chest as the car disappeared.

I left Brock in the house and phased behind the plants.

Jacob was on his way to Nessie's house. She looked about 10 years old at the moment.

I told him what was happening.

_Ouch, thats tough. Not too far away though, you could sleep in the forest if you needed to. Or even watch her all day and run back home at night._

I thanked him mentally.

So, how's Ness?

He continued to fill me in on all everything that had been going on, from taking his imprint cliff diving, to his newest blond jokes that he had been annoying Rosalie with.

I arrived at Sam's place and said goodbye to Jake before phasing and going inside.

I knocked on the door, just to be polite, and let myself in.

Emily was sitting on the couch, holding baby Aiyana. Sam sat beside her, playing with her twin, Aran. The twins were cute, straight black hair and dark brown eyes, with tiny little dimples.

The family looked up as I entered the room. Sam nodded a greeting.

"Emily, do you know who lives on 88 Lone Tree Road? Elise is dropping Claire there for the weekend," I said. "Apparently a family friend?"

"Yeah, I think so, but I'll just double check," she told me, handing me the little girl.

Aiyana grabbed my hair in one hand and poked my nose with the other. I chuckled and sat down next to Sam. We must really make a sight.

Emily returned with a small address book, flicking quickly through the pages.

"Ah, here we go. Maylah and Kenson Takoda. They were friends with my mother. Old couple, don't have any kids. They have a huge cattle farm out to the west, and a river running though the property. It's really pretty, Maylah used to make chocolate chip cookies for us whenever we went over there." Emily said wistfully.

I let out a sigh of relief. Claire would be fine.

"The only problem you'll have is that the area is mainly paddocks for most of the way. The house itself is surrounded by forest, so you'll be fine once you get there. You'll have to travel at night, when no one can see you". She continued.

Okay, I could do that.

"Thanks Em. Did you guys know Elise is seeing someone again? A guy with a daughter, a year younger than Claire." I said unhappily.

Sam shook his head. "It probably won't last long anyway Quil."

I shrugged. "I hope not."

I spent the rest of the day at home, fixing up the house and doing any odd jobs that mum couldn't do. She had gone out for the day with Old Quil. They would come home to a nice surprise.

When the sun began to set I made my way to the beach, walking along it until it got dark. When I was confident that no one would see me, I phased and ran the next few miles up the beach before turning and heading into the forest.

I met the main road after a few minutes and leaped over a fence, into a paddock. There was a large flock of sheep, but I quickly skirted around them. None of them noticed the giant wolf among them.

All up it took me 20 minutes to get to the driveway. It was a simple dirt road, leading up to a large pinewood cabin. Most of the lights were off, and I could hear the older couple breathing in their sleep. The man was snoring rather loudly.

There were chicken coops up to the left and a large dairy to the right. I was slightly taller than the milking cows that were scattered around the outside of the house.

Shouldn't they be in a paddock or something?

I crept past the cattle and went to the window. Claire was sitting on a bed in the spare bedroom, reading a childrens book.

Why did my imprint have to be more intelligent than me? She hadn't even started school yet.

Claire was wearing a small, midnight blue gown that I hadn't seen before. There was a blue night light set up on the cupboard, dimly lighting up the room.

She looked slightly lonely. I watched her put the book down and crawl under the covers.

As if she sensed that I was there, she looked over at the window, staring into my eyes.

"Goodnight Quil," she whispered before closing her eyes.

I froze.

Had she worked it out or was she just saying it?

I ducked behind the window, blending into the darkness. If she came to the window she wouldn't see me.

There were plently of signs that I wasn't normal and Claire wasn't stupid.

There was that first night, when I had stayed with her. Had she realised that my eyes were the same?

The pack slipped up all the time, saying odd comments and such. I was fairly sure that she hadn't heard anything, but who knows? Most of them weren't exactly what you would call quiet.

The 'Fluffy' incident had made it pretty obvious, and she had worked out that I could hear better than the average human. My body temperature couldn't be consealed.

There was a large possibility that she had worked it out.

I peered back into the room roughly 10 minutes later.

Claire was asleep, the heavy quilt only allowing her face to be seen. She looked so peaceful and innocent, her black curls falling gently across the pillow.

I didn't have to worry about Sam's reaction, though he was her uncle. Jacob probably wouldn't mind if she knew, seeing he had a young imprint as well.

Oh well, she probably wouldn't bring it up anyway, she was a quiet little thing.

I stayed there for the rest of the night, guarding my tiny imprint as she slept.

It was early morning, perhaps 4:00, when I heard a wolf howl loudly nearby, a wild one, not one of the pack. Probably after one of the calves that were in a shed nearby. I stood up, watching the scraggy beast creep under a hole in the front gate, his yellow slitted eyes standing out in the darkness. Close enough.

I leaped towards him, growling savagely. He jumped in surprise and darted back under the wood, disappearing into the forest.

I heard Claire stir in her sleep. The stupid beast had woken her up.

After a few minutes she went back to sleep, breathing evenly once more.

I planted myself next to the hole. If another wolf wanted to get near the house, it would have to go past me first.

An hour later I heard the older couple begin to wake. The sky was getting lighter and if I didn't leave soon someone would spot me.

I phased and put on a pair of shorts before climbing through Claire's window. She was still fast asleep.

I gently stroked her head before looking at her book. Little Red Riding Hood. I nearly snorted. Really? I turned the page to a picture of the wolf and left it open on the bedside table. I sat her jacket beside it, she would understand.

This done I crept back out the window and disappeared into the forest.


	10. Chapter 10

**Claire's POV**

I woke up in a strange bed. A strange, cold bed.

Where was I again? Oh yeah, at Mr and Mrs Takodas house. They were nice, but the spare bedroom was really cold, despite the gigantic quilt.

Where was Quil when you needed a heater?

Probably somewhere out in the forest.

No one thought that I knew what was going on. They thought I was just a clueless child, not smart enough to work anything out. I wouldn't tell them, but I was _not_ stupid. I was very smart, and I would work out exactly what was going on. Eventually.

So far I had worked out that Quil and his friends were some sort of wolf, like the spirit warriors in Grandpa Ahiga's stories. I missed Grandpa Ahiga, he gave me oatmeal cookies, and told me lots of stories.

I had seen a brown wolf running around my house on the nights that Quil was away. It followed me whenever he wasn't around.

I wasn't scared of the brown wolf anymore, he showed up whenever I was alone and stayed with me until I had to go back inside. He never hurt me, just lay down at my feet and kept me company.

It was about his 4th visit that I had worked it all out, they had the exact same eyes, and something was just different about Quil. From there, everything sort of fell into place.

Quil had very good ears, was very strong, ate lots-so much that he should be really fat by now, but wasn't, and was always warm, even in the snow. He was only friends with particular group of people, and they were all the same as him, strong, warm and tall .

It didn't have to be a full moon, that had been proved several times, and they were very, very big. Bigger than a horse even.

And as well all that, he _liked_ looking after me, for some weird reason. It had to be a wolf thing, why else would he want to look after a 4 year old? He had taken care of me for 2 years, that's a very long time.

I kept my eyes shut, hoping to go back to sleep. Nope, it was too cold.

Why couldn't have Quil come? I don't think Mr and Mrs Takoda would have minded.

I unhappily opened my eyes and pulled back the quilt. It was _so_ heavy. Seriously, why would people have blankets that you could barely pick up?

I probably shouldn't go out of my room just yet, I really liked Mr and Mrs Takoda, I had to be good for them.

I went to my bag and looked for my jacket. Where was it? I knew that Quil had packed it here somewhere.

Nope it wasn't there. I would just have to be cold. With a sigh I walked around to the side of the gigantic bed.

Maybe I could keep reading my book? I had put it on the bed before I fell asleep.

I looked over at the bedside table. Aha! There's my jacket! And my book too.

But I hadn't put it there last night. Unless...

I looked at the page that the book was open too. It was talking about the big bad wolf. Yep, there's Quil.

Had he come into the room? I had seen him at the window last night. Probably went through the window, it would have been like him to get my jacket out for me.

Why didn't he wake me up? And better yet, why wasn't he here right now? It was cold!

Probably didn't want the other people to see him. Oh well, I would just have to make do with my jacket.

I put it on and climbed onto the bed. I missed Quil, he was warm, and nice, and fun. And warm.

No Claire, stop thinking about how cold you are. Read your book.

I opened it and turned back to the page I had been on. The story was boring, I had already read it several times.

A knock on the door interrupted me, and Mrs Takoda opened the door.

"Good morning Claire. Breakfast is ready, you can have either pancakes or cereal," she told me kindly.

She was nice. Just like Aunty Emily. Her food was just as good too.

"Thankyou." I said politely, following her out the door.

We entered the kitchen, there was a plate with lots of pancakes on it, sitting on the kitchen table.

She had better not have made all of that for me. I couldn't eat that much. She put a couple of them on a plate and poured real maple syrup on them. Then she cut them into tiny pieces and handed me the plate. Yum!

Mr Takoda sat down beside me and poured himself a cup of black coffee. I happily dug into my breakfast, it was just as good as Emily's food.

"They're really good," I told Mrs Takoda with a smile. She smiled down at me.

"Thanks Claire, would you like to help me make some chocolate cookies later this afternoon?" She asked me.

Yes! Aunty Emily was too busy to do any baking with me, she had to look after the twins. And Quil, well, I'm fairly sure he doesn't know how to bake.

"Yes please, that would be fantastic," I replied. I wasn't really sure what fantastic meant, but I think it meant really, realy good. Mrs Takoda chuckled and began to eat her breakfast.

I didn't see Quil for the rest of the day, I wasn't sure if he went back home or was just hiding.

Mr Takoda took me to milk the cows. I had to climb up the ladder and stay on the top balcony, over looking the dairy. He said I had to stay there because it had a really good view, I think he just didn't want me to get stepped on. But that was probably a good idea, the cows were really, really big.

I watched the cows gather into the pens near the shed and slowly walk down to the machines. Mr Takoda made them each go into a different little stall thing and washed their udders before hooking them up to a machine.

When they were all ready he turned the machine on. The milk went through several pipes and into a giant container, next to the wall. When this group of cows were done, he let them out and the next group came in.

When there were only a couple of cows left, he hooked them all up except for one, picking up a bucket and gesturing for me to come here. I quickly climbed down and ran over to him.

"Now, a long time ago, before the machines were invented, we had to milk the cows by hand," he told me. I watched the milk squirt into a red bucket.

"Open your mouth," he told me. I did as I was told and he squirted warm milk milk at me. I laughed happily.

"Can I have a go?" I asked excitedly. He nodded and showed me how to do it.

The cow never seemed to run out of milk.

"It would have taken them a long time before the machines," I said in wonder.

Mr Takoda nodded in agreement.

It was fun, but it got boring after a few minutes. He then put the cow back on the machine and I climbed back up the ladder.

When all of the cows were finished he let them back out into the paddock and hosed the cement down. It was really dirty.

Then he poured a large amount of the milk into 2 large buckets.

"What's that for?" I asked him.

"We have to feed the calves. Their only a couple of weeks old," he told me. If they were only little, why weren't they with their mothers?

He walked up the driveway and stopped at a large shed, opening the door. Inside was 3 pens, with chicken wire at the back. You could see out into the cow paddock where the mothers were eating a few metres away.

He poured most of the milk into the containers and the calves quickly ran up to it, drinking out of the black, plastic teats.

Mr Takoda put the rest of it into a bottle and stepped into another pen. This one only had 1 calf, and it was a lot smaller than the rest. It was really cute, with huge brown eyes and a large, wet nose.

I held the bottle while it drank, though Mr Takoda had to help. The calf was really strong, even though it was small.

When we had finished that we went back to the dairy. Mr Takoda poured the milk into large glass bottles and I had to help put them in the car. When they were all ready we climbed in the car and began a 'milk run'. Basically we dropped milk off at lots of peoples houses.

It took a while because Mr Takoda kept stopping to talk to them. One old lady had some really cute ducklings that I was allowed to play with.

When we got back, Mrs Takoda had lunch ready. It was a delicious chicken and noodle soup. After lunch Mr Takoda let me ride his horse, Dusty. It was really high up, but Mr Takoda sat behind me and made sure I didn't fall off. We went around all of the paddocks, and through a grove of pine trees.

There were lots of wildflowers that were really pretty. We also went through a dam, Dusty splashed the water with his front legs.

After that I stayed in the living room and played with the puppies and kittens. There were some black and white kittens that were pouncing around the room, and some newborn Border Collie puppies that were asleep next to their mother.

They were really cute. I wished that I could have a puppy, but Mum wouldn't let me.

I helped Mrs Takoda make chocolate cookies, well not really _helped _more like I stirred and ate the mixture, but she didn't seem to mind, they were really good.

At 7:00 I sat with Mrs Takoda on the front porch, waiting for Mum to come and pick me up. She was drinking a cup of hot chocolate, I had already finished mine.

I wished that I could stay here, it was really fun. Mum probably wouldn't mind, but I missed Quil.

"Thankyou for having me Mrs Takoda, it was really fun," I told her. She smiled.

"Your welcome Claire. Maybe you can come up again another weekend."

I nodded. Mum drove up the driveway, stopping out the front and tooting the horn. Her lights were shining really brightly in the darkness. Couldn't she at least say hello to Mrs Takoda? Thank the woman who had looked after her daughter? Apparently not.

I sighed, saying goodbye and then getting into the car. I waved until the house was out of sight.

"You had better not embarass me at this party Claire. Be nice to his kid, I don't care how she acts," Mum told me sternly. I nodded.

No one had said that it was a party, I thought it was only dinner. I wonder if Quil is coming.

"Probably going to be a spoilt little brat," Mum mumbled to herself. I probably wasn't supposed to hear that.

We pulled up in our driveway a while later.

"Put something nice on, not a dress though. Get Quil to help you and be quick about it," she ordered.

Yay! Quil was coming!

I opened the door, stumbling up the path in the darkness and running to the house. Before I could reach for the handle, it was pulled open and Quil scooped me up into his arms. I cuddled into his shoulder happily.

"Hey Claire. Did you have a good time?" He asked me, setting me down in my room. I hadn't realised he was walking.

Quil was wearing a pair of dark jeans and a red checkered shirt. I resisted the urge to tell him that he looked funny and ran over to my draws, trying to find my favourite shirt.

"Yep, but Mum's gonna kill me if I don't hurry," I told him.

I finally found it and threw it on. Quil turned around for a few seconds. I really liked this shirt, it was a light brown, with dark brown swirls and several metal rings sewn into it. It used to be Nessie's but she had outgrown it.

"Is this okay?" I asked Quil. He nodded.

"Yep. How do you want me to do your hair?" He asked, picking up the comb.

"I don't know, just braid it or something."

I sat down on the mattress and put on my sandals as he did my hair.

It was strange that he was so good at doing hair, seeing he was a boy and all. But then again, he did mine nearly every day so he had lots of practise.

A few minutes later we rushed outside and got in the car. Oops, forgot my jacket again, oh well too late now, Quil would just have to carry me.

"Took you long enough," Mum snorted. Yep, and how long did she usually take? Much, much longer.

I watched the trees fly past through the window, Mum was going too fast, but she didn't notice. Good thing there weren't many police around here.

We drove for a long time before going down Evergreen Lane.

Mum stopped infront of a large house, it was lit up with lots of different lights, at least three storeys high and lots of windows.

She parked on the side of the road and got out of the car. I took a deep breathe and opened the door, stepping onto the plastic grass. Quil followed behind me, closing the door.

The house looked gigantic, like a an evil castle looming over its prisoners. Why would we want to go in there?

Mum rang the doorbell.

I stayed next to Quil, he would look after me. Mum... not so much.

I wish we were at Aunty Emily's house. Small, warm, comfortable, not at all scary, big garden and yard. Yummy food and twins to play with. And someone was always doing something fun that I could watch or join.

A strange man in a black suit answered the door. He was wearing a weird looking tie, all black and red stripes. Even his tie showed that he was evil.

"Good evening everyone. Please follow me," he said. Mum thanked him and walked into the house.

The floor was tiled, like in a bathroom. I didn't really like it, carpet was much nicer.

We went through several dark passage ways, and through lots of rooms until we reached a glass staircase. I was already lost, how would we find our way back to the car? The staircase was really, really long. This was going to take ages.

I could hear music coming from the top of the stairs, as well as many voices.

I started on the first step, watching enviously as Mum and the man in the suit climbed with ease. Why did I have to be so small?

I heard Quil chuckle behind me. It wasn't that funny! Before I could say so I was being carried up the stairs. Another thing for the list, Quil was really fast, sometimes I didn't even see him move.

I tried not to look down, it was really far to the floor. What if the glass broke?

Nope, not going to think about that. I put my head on Quils shoulder and held on tightly, he wouldn't drop me.

We finally made it to the top of the stairs and I looked around the room. There was a large table off to one side, and a kitchen and bar to the other. There was a balcony with glass doors, and a couch and t.v in the corner. The whole room was filled with people, Brocks family and friends, I would guess.

There were older people, sitting on chairs, sipping tea and lots of women with blond hair. It must run in the family.

And sitting at the table, in a pink high chair was a little girl. Yep, definitly evil step sister material. She was dressed in a pink, frilly dress and had a pink ribbon in her blond hair. She had blue eyes and pale white skin that was covered with makeup. Purple eye shadow, pink cheeks, goo on her eyelashes and red lips.

Aiyana was much prettier.

Quil began to put me back down, but I held on tighter. There was no way he was putting me on the ground near all of these people, they didn't look friendly. All wearing tons of makeup, and funny looking clothes. And I could see much better from up here too.

The whole scene made me want to hide. I would hide in Quils jacket if he was wearing one. It was dark, and safe, and warm. And you could see what was going on without people seeing you. But that would look strange.

I saw Quil studying the room, probably looking for Brock.

Brock. What a disgusting name. I wonder what it meant. It should mean evil monster, or something like that.

Emily told me that my name means clear and bright.

Maybe I'll ask Quil later, if he doesn't know Aunty Emily probably will.

"Ah, I'm so glad you could make it. Dinner will be ready in two hours or so," Brock said, appearing at Mum's side.

A group of tall women walked up to us with fake smiles. The one in front was wearing a tight black dress and a fur rug over her shoulders. It looked like leopards fur. She had matching heels. I seriously hoped that the fur was fake.

"Good evening, you must be Elise. And who is this little lovely?" She asked, gesturing towards me.

Mum smiled in the same way. "This is Quil Ateara and my daughter Claire, its a pleasure to meet you, though I didn't quite catch your name."

"Oh, I'm sorry, I'm Amelia, and this is Rosemary and Parlina," she replied, pointing to her friends in turn.

What horrible names. Just then there was a loud crackle and the loud speaker turned on.

"Hello everyone, the snacks and drinks are ready down in the relaxation room, so get into your bathers and start making your way down there. " A loud voice announced.

"Oh well, I guess we'll see you around. Au Revoir!" The lady said, walking towards the stairs, her evil minions following behind.

"Quil," I whispered quietly,"what does Aur Revoir mean?" It sounded strange.

He chuckled. "I think it means goodbye in French," he told me. Oh, that made sense, but why couldn't they have just spoken normally? They were weird.

"Shall we go," Brock asked, offering Mum his hand. She giggled weirdly, sounding a lot like a dying pig, and took his hand, walking down the stairs.

Seriously? We just came _up_ the stairs and now we're going back_ down_ again? We hadn't even been up here for 2 minutes!

I didn't even try to work out where we were this time. The house was a gigantic maze, Quil could remember how to get out of here.

We went down yet _another _set of stairs and into the room. There was fake plants everywhere, with large plastic flowers. The corner of the room had a large, wooden fence around it, with fake plants 'growing' out of the wood.

There were white gravel paths leading around the room, and rest of the floor was covered in grey tiles. There was a big table full of snacks, bread sticks, cheese, olives and many other platters. Next to the table was a small bar, with black chairs clustered along the bench.

Everyone was in their bathers, even Brock wasn't wearing a shirt, though none of them were actually swimming. It was really weird, seeing that it was nightime and all. Our little group looked completely out of place.

A young woman came up to us. She had long blond hair and blue eyes. She was wearing tiny purple bathers and a pair of sunglasses.

We were inside for goodness sake, and it was dark outside. Why would she need sunglasses?

"Good evening. Would you like me to take the young one to the water with the other little darling?" She cooed. To the water? What water?

And 'young one' was sitting right here. Why wouldn't she ask me? I obviously didn't get a choice in the matter.

"That would be great," Mum replied, already heading towards the food table.

The woman stepped closer, holding her arms open, obviously waiting for Quil to hand me over. No way. I grabbed Quils arm and held on tight. He was not leaving me with this person.

"Can Quil come too?" I asked her. She looked at me in surprise.

What? Wasn't I allowed to talk?

"Um, of course he can," she told me. Yay!

She led us to the corner of the room, opening the wooden gate. Inside there was a large, blue swimming pool. There was steam coming off of the shimmering water.

The pool was surrounded by green couches, with small drink stands beside them.

The evil stepsister had her feet in the water, giggling happily. Two older women were sitting beside her, making sure she didn't fall in. Maybe her Grandmothers? They were wearing normal, but very expensive looking clothes, one had a pearl necklack and they both had golden earrings.

I wonder if they would let me go swimming? I had never gone swimming before. Well, I played in the ocean with Quil, but that wasn't really swimming. Quil was always saying that I should learn to swim, but there wasn't a pubic pool in La Push, it was too cold.

But I hadn't brought any bathers. Maybe another time.

Quil carried me over to the pool and sat me on his lap. The evil stepsister watched me with wide, blue eyes. The old women stared at me, screwing up their faces with distaste. I officially named them the grumps. We can have grump 1 and grump 2.

They continued to glare at me. What? I snuggled into Quils shirt, wishing that I could escape from their gaze.

The younger woman sat down beside Quil.

"Hey, I'm Alana," she told Quil with a giggle, scooting closer.

He ignored her, looking at the water.

I blocked out whatever she was saying and concentrated on the grumps on the evil stepsister. The little girl stood up and crawled over to me. Couldn't she walk yet?

She looked at me for a few seconds, before reaching out her tiny hand.

Yank! She pulled my hair, really hard. Quil shifted me to his other knee and glared at the little girl. The grumps began to chuckle quietly.

I glared at her, trying to remind myself that the pink creature infront of me was only a baby. Which she wasn't.

After a few more seconds she turned and crawled back to the grumps.

I crawled out onto Quils knees and took my sandals off, dipping my toes in the warm water.

I should probably stop calling her the evil stepsister, though she was fairly evil. Hmmm, I think I'll call her the flower pot. Yup, the flower pot, that works.

The flower pot flapped her arms and splashed in the water. Grump number 1 laughed quietly.

"Would you like to go swimming darling?" She asked. The child nodded and splashed some more.

If she got to go swimming, I could too right? Bathers were a problem though...

"Shall we go and get changed then little missy?" She asked, standing up. The other woman did the same.

Quil looked up from the water, "Could Claire go swimming as well? I'll come in so I can watch her," he asked, cutting off the younger girl who was talking again. Didn't she ever shut up?

The older woman looked surprised. "Of course. If you'll follow me I'll get her some bathers." She replied.

Yes! I get to go swimming! I jumped up and followed the grumps up the stairs, going as fast as I could. Quil followed behind, when I was tired of the stairs he picked me up, carrying me the rest of the way.

The grumps stopped in a very big, very pink room. There was hundreds of toys and games, as well as 2 computers and a large, white crib. Did the flower pot still sleep in one of those things? They were only for babies, Aiyana and Aran slept in them!

"Here we go," grump number 1 said, handing me a pink and flowery bathing suit. Yuck! Usually I wouldn't be caught dead in something like that, but I wanted to go swimming. I tapped Quils arm so that he would put me down.

With a small sigh I went into the spare bathroom and got changed. The bathers were a dark pink, just a pair of underwear looking things and a shirt. They were covered in flowers and rainbows. Eeeew.

I looked in the mirror, screwing up my nose at the sight. Why was everything pink?

When I came out into the hallway, Quil was in a pair of shorts, and was holding a pair of... you guessed it - **pink** goggles! He had a pair of blue ones around his neck. Why did he get blue ones but I had to have pink?

He looked me over, raising his eyebrows with a smirk.

"You look very..." he trailed off.

"I look very what?"

"Pink." I glared at him. "Like a princess," he hurried to mend, handing over the goggles. I nodded, glaring at the pink object in my hands.

"Quil? How do I put these on?" I asked. They looked weird, surely they would make me look strange. I didn't need another reason for the old lady to hate me.

He chuckled, not helping. "I'll show you when we get down there, okay?"

"Okay," I replied, shivering in the cold air. He picked me up, making sure I was warm enough.

"You never told me how your stay at Maylah and Kenson's house went," he said. Maylah and Kenson, that must be Mrs and Mr Takoda.

Nope, we had been way too busy. I filled him in for the next 10 minutes, leaving out the part when I couldn't find my jacket, and assumed that he had sneaked through the window. He didn't bring it up.

Roughly 10 minutes later the other people came out of the bedroom.

The flower pot had a pink, plastic thingy on her head covering her hair, she looked really weird.

She was wearing a 2 piece swimming costume, with blow up things around her arms. Her round, white belly was poking out between the pieces of pink fabric. Yuck!

Aiyana and Aran had tiny bellies as well, but they weren't that large, they were just cute. The older lady screwed up her nose as she looked me over.

For goodness sake. What? I was wearing their ugly pink thingy and was all ready to go swimming. Sure, I wasn't wearing a plastic thingy on my head, or the things on my arms but they hadn't given me any.

The grumps looked worse anyway! They had flowery bathing suits, with matching flowery plastic head thingys. Their arms and legs were all leathery and wrinkly, and their toenails were painted red. Gross!

I saw Quil roll his eyes, though I'm not too sure why. Their swimming clothes _were _awful though.

We made our way back to the swimming pool, stopping several times for people to admire the flower pot.

"Oh, aren't you just gorgeous," one woman said.

"Are you having a good time you little cutie?" Said another.

Seriously, cute? Gorgeous? She looked like minature balooga whale. A pink, miniature balooga whale.

I saw several teenage girls looking in my direction, but I'm pretty sure they were just eyeing Quil. Yuck!

We finally made it to the pool and I sat down on the edge. The girl was still sitting there, staring at Quil. Poor Quil. She didn't go into the water.

I could smell something, but wasn't sure what it was. The water looked really, really deep. Could Quil even touch the bottom?

Grump number 1 took the flower pot to the stairs and slowly walked into the water, holding the 3 year old close to her chest.

The water was a deep blue, shimmering with tiny waves. There was still steam coming off the water, making it look mysterious and pretty. On the edge of the pool there was a ledge, just like a large step, not very deep, it would probably only come up to my waist.

Quil just plonked himself down next to me and stood up on the ledge.

I looked at the water nervously. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea.

"Is the little pink unicorn going to come in?" He asked me with an innocent smile.

I glared at him playfully, putting my hand in the water. Splash! The water didn't go very far, barely reaching his waist.

"Oh really?" Quil asked with a grin, showering me in water from head to toe. I squealed, getting up and running back to the couches, out of reach.

I saw the girl get up and walk away. Finally! I blocked out all of the noise from the party and watched Quil.

He followed me, chasing me around the couches. The grumps payed us no attention, focusing on the flower pot. I made sure that I was on the opposite side of the couch to Quil at all times. He ducked, disappearing from view.

Which way was he coming? Suddenly, he poked his head out from behind the couch, right beside me. I scrambled in the other direction, but he gave chase, cornering me between the couch and the swimming pool.

He took a step closer, and by the playful look in his eyes I assumed he was going to push me in.

"Quil," I said, pretending to be serious. I didn't know how to swim.

He ignored me, ccoping me up and holding me upside down. I laughed excitedly as I was swung from side to side above the water.

"Don't drop me!" I yelled in panic, when the water came a bit closer.

He lifted me higher so that I could see his face. I giggled, refusing to look down, Quil was really tall, it would be a long way to the ground.

"Me? Why would I drop you?" He asked innocently. Before I could come up with a smart response I was flipped back upright and sent flying towards the water.

I managed to let out a loud squeal before I hit the water. It was really warm, just as good as a shower. I opened my eyes, working out that Quil had somehow put my goggles on without me noticing. How did he do that?

A pair of strong arms picked me up, pulling my head out of the water.

"You okay?" He asked me, pretending that he hadn't just thrown me a few metres without any warning. I nodded, splashing him in the face as fast as I could.

"Hey!" And then I was flying through the air, and splashing into the water, only to be picked up again.

This was fun! "Can you throw me some more _after _I've learnt to swim?"

Quil nodded.

"Its a bit shallower up that end. Do you want to start up there?" He asked me. You could tell that he was just doing it for me, he didn't really want to go up that end.

I looked over at the flower pot, she was squealing and giggling happily. Splashing around in the water. One of the grumps let the girl go and she floated around in the water, kicking her legs.

The grumps were up that end. I shook my head, and watched his eyes light up happily. Yep, he wanted to stay here.

"Okay, we'll just go to the middle then," he replied. Yep, thats a good idea.

"Okay."

His hair was all messed up, and he had a large smile on his face. His dark brown eyes were sparkling excitedly.

He swam to the middle of the pool, his back to the grumps. He could stand up here.

"Okay, the first thing you can learn is how to float. You just lie on you back, poke your stomach up and take a big breath," he told me.

I nodded, that didn't sound too hard. I spread out on my back next to Quil. He kept his hand on my back so that I wouldn't sink.

"Good job, now try doing it without me." I felt him slowly move his hand away. I wobbled for a second before staying put. I managed for a few minutes before starting to sink.

"Take a deep breath," he instructed. I did so and was able to float much better.

"Good job Claire. You can stop now," he told me.

Floating was kind of boring.

"Right, now you have to kick your legs and move your arms like this, okay? It's called treading water, keeps you afloat."

I nodded, unable to say anything else. I tried to copy what he was doing, but it didn't really work. I began to sink again. Quil picked me up.

I frowned, watching him repeat the action.

Why could the flower pot do it, but I couldn't?

He had to show me a few more times before I could do it. I giggled, managing to stay upright all on my own.

I purposly let go of Quil and sank down into the water. I could see through the water, though everything was tinted pink. I would need to breathe soon, but it was really pretty. I kicked my legs, slowly coming back up to the surface.

"Good job," Quil said, picking me back up.

Then he showed me how to move my arms and legs, kicking as hard as I could. He held my arms and pulled me around while I kicked.

After a while he let me go and stood about 2 metres away. I 'treaded water' like I was told.

"Now see if you can swim to me," he said.

I took a deep breath and lay on my stomach, kicking my legs and moving my arms. I didn't move very quickly and it took me a fair amount of time to reach him. When I finally got there he picked me up. That was tiring.

"Look how far you swam," he said excitedly. I looked back, that was really far. He must have been moving backwards the whole time!

I stayed in Quils arms for a few minutes, just to catch my breath.

"Ready?" He asked. I nodded, not sure what I was supposed to be ready for.

Quil grabbed my arms and pulled me around the swimming pool, going really fast. I laughed and squealed happily. I was going much faster than everyone else. Just like a boat, the water forming in waves around me.

After a few minutes he stopped and straightened my goggles. The flower pot was watching me.

"Hold your breath," he told me. I did so and was pushed deep underwater.

It was really pretty, I could touch the floor of the pool with my fingers. I could see the grumps yucky looking legs a few metres away. Quil rolled me onto my back so that I could look up at the surface of the water.

It was shimmering and clear, not enough to see what was going on above it. Wouldn't it be great if I could take a photo of that? The water would probably break the camera though.

I only stayed under for a few more seconds before Quil pulled me out to breathe.

"You have to try it Quil, it's really pretty," I told him, wiping my goggles.

"Sure," he replied, disappearing under the water. I put my face in the water and watched him. He could hold his breath for a lot longer than me.

He came back up. "See if you can do this Claire," he said, diving under the water. I tried to copy him, moving my arms and kicking at the same time. Quil got all the way to the bottom and swam along the floor. I only got halfway.

He pushed off the wall and came back beside me. "I can't get as far," I told him unhappily. I was too small.

"Okay, plan B. Hold onto my shoulders like I'm giving you a piggy-back ride and I'll swim," he told me. That was a good idea. I quickly grabbed onto his shoulders and held on tight, taking a deep breath.

Quil dove under the water and swam along the floor again. He was going a lot faster than I could ever go. It was fantastic.

He did several laps of the pool, going past the flower pot and the grumps. She watched in awe, trying to follow him. Too slow! One of the grumps glared at him as he came up for a breath.

"Aren't you going to give the other child a turn?" Grump number 1 snarled.

I glared at her. No way! This was the flower pots house, she could go swimming whenever she wanted to, I never got to go swimming. And Quil was my friend!

Quil sighed and nodded. I grumbled unhappily but got off, paddling down to the other end of the pool on my own. I would just have to share.

"Excuse me young lady, you get yourself over here where we can watch you!" Grump number 2 ordered. I ignored her, disappearing under the water.

I resurfaced and watched enviously as Quil gave the flower pot a ride, he went really slowly, staying at the top of the water.

Oh well, it would be my turn again soon. To pass the time I practiced diving, trying to get further to the bottom. I made it slightly further but had to come back up for air.

I worked out that I could go further if I kicked off from the side of the pool.

When I came back up I heard the speaker crackle again.

"Okay everyone, dinner will be ready in an hour's time. Hope you're enjoying your evening," the same voice announced.

How long would it take for me to get changed? Probably not long. The old ladies, now free from their babysitting jobs, swam down to the deep end, sitting on the ledge. They were glaring at me again. Grouches.

"Why don't you try and do a handstand in the shallow end," Quil suggested, swimming past with the flower pot. He stopped at the ledge and let her climb off, standing next to the grumps.

I paddled back down to the shallow end, I could stand up here. I attempted to do a handstand, it was much easier in the water. Quil dove underwater and appeared next to me.

Suddenly he scooped me up, and threw me a couple of metres across the water. I squealed, splashing into the deep end, getting the girl and the grumps wet in the process. I kicked my legs, trying to get up to the surface.

I came up laughing, the music was too loud for anyone to have heard, though the grumps didn't look too happy.

I swam back to Quil who was laughing at me. I splashed him full in the face with a giggle. He grabbed my ankles, pulling me towards him and then flipping me over into the water.

We played for a few minutes, me flying into the deep end several times and splashing water in all directions.

Grump number 1 stood up.

"We had better get dry before dinner time," she announced, climbing out of the pool and getting a towel. Grump number 2 followed her.

Did we have to get out already? I swam back to the ledge underwater. Grump number 2 handed me a big, blue towel. Finally! Something that wasn't pink!

As I picked it up, I noticed my hands. They were all wrinkled and pale looking. Yuck.

I looked at the flower pot, her hands were even worse, it must be the water.

Quil took the towel out of my hands and wrapped it around me, picking me up. It was really soft, much better than the ones at home. We followed the grumps through another door that led into a couple of bathrooms. This house was more like mansion or a castle, or perhaps an entertainment centre.

How could anyone afford something like this? The house must have costed millions.

Quil sat me back down and I quickly had a shower, scrubbing my hair with some special shampoo that was in the basket. I got dressed again and met Quil on the benches.

Oh great, who knew how long they were going to take. I sat down on Quils lap and closed my eyes., probably getting Quils shoulder all wet in the process. I was exhausted, swimming took up a lot of energy.

He gently stroked my back, sending me off to sleep.

I don't know how long I was asleep for, but when I woke up the grumps and the flower pot were just coming out of the bathrooms.

The flower pot looked really tired, her eyes droopy.

The grumps didn't speak, but led us up another staircase, somehow we ended up in the pink room again.

They wrapped the girl up in sheets and sat her in the crib.

"We could get a blanket and leave that one on the floor if you'd like," grump number 2 suggested to Quil.

No way! I was tired but there was no way they were going to put me in a room with the sleeping flower pot.

Quil shook his head. "That's okay, I can carry her," he told them. I sighed thankfully.

We left the room and grump number 1 locked the door. Poor little flower pot.

I was caried back down to the party, the music was still loud, and everyone was walking around in small groups, chatting away.

I wonder where Mum is, I looked around but couldn't see her in the crowd. Quil obviously noticed what I was doing and pointed to our left. How come his hands weren't all wrinkled? I looked in the direction that he was pointing and saw her dancing with Brock, a small smile on her face.

Oh well, at least Mum was having fun. Probably wouldn't last very long.

We stopped at the food table.

"Are you hungry?" He asked me quietly. I wasn't, just really tired. But was he hungry? Probably, I should just say yes so that he could get something for himself. If I fell asleep he would sit down somewhere and not get anything for himself.

I nodded, and he quickly set to putting food on a plate. There was lots of different things, truffles, pies, spring rolls, prawns, fruit, salads, bread sticks, sandwhiches and many other things. I noticed a plate of rockmelon and gestured towards it. Quil looked at me strangely but put it on the plate. I hated rockmelon, but Quil really liked it for some odd reason.

The grumps went off to talk to some other old ladies and Quil sat down on an empty green couch that was beside the pool.

He held the plate infront of me, it had all of my favourite foods on it, including white chocolate tim tams. It was a pity that I wasn't actually hungry. Quil had a really good memory. I picked up the tiniest cube of watermelon and began to nibble on it. I had to pretend I was at least slightly hungry.

When I had finished the tiny treat I cuddled up to him and closed my eyes. "Wake me up when it's time for dinner?" I asked. I felt him nod his head.

It probably wasn't very fair to sleep on Quil, but I don't think he minded, he had a whole plate of food anyway.

With that thought I drifted off to sleep.

"Claire," Quil whispered. I felt a large hand tapping my shoulder gently. "Come on, we have to go get some dinner, and I think your Mum's looking for you."

I opened my eyes, blinking several times.

The music was even louder, if that was possible. I yawned and cuddled back up to Quil. I don't want any food, I want to go back to sleep. And as for Mum, well she wouldn't be too worried.

"Claire," he repeated, louder this time. I grumbled a bit but sat upright.

"Okay, okay, I'm awake," I mumbled.

Quil stood up and carried me over to another table where lots of people were filling their plates.

There was lasagna, garlic bread, roast meat, fried potatoes, vegetables, gravy, salads, more bread and butter, pieces of fried chicken, meat on a stick, sausages, steak, salads and who knows what else.

I had never seen so much food in my entire life!

"Can I have a chicken stick?" I asked Quil. He picked up another large plate and began to stack it with food.

"Anything else?" I looked at the table.

"I've never had one of them before," I said, pointing to an orange and white, strange looking piece.

He chuckled and put a couple on the plate. "It's just a prawn Claire, like a giant shrimp," he explained.

Shrimp, those tiny things that were in the river?

"And what's that?" I said again, feeling rather stupid.

"It's crackling, cooked pork fat," he replied. Pig fat? Yuck!

He went back to the couch, we obviously weren't all sitting together. I happily munched away at the chicken stick. It had a really yummy sauce on it.

Quil made quick work of the rest, leaving me the prawns. They tasted a lot like crab. Quil and Embry had taken me to the jetty a few months ago, they put the crab nets in the water and pulled them up about an hour later.

Inside the net were these gigantic blue crabs. Embry and Quil had picked them up and put them in the freezer. I didn't want to go anywhere near the claws.

When we had finished, Quil put the plate in the bin.

What were we supposed to do now? I was wide awake, there was no way I was going to fall asleep again.

Quil stood up and walked through the crowds. He eventually stopped beside Mum, she was talking to another girl while holding a glass of wine and a plate of salads.

"Ah, there you are, I've been looking for you two," She said excitedly. How much wine did she have?

"Edwina suggested that you go up to the living room and watch a movie for a few hours," she told us.

Quil nodded, listening to the instructions on how to get there.

We climbed up yet _another _set of stairs, went through several more passageways and then came to a large room. There was a projector thingy on the wall, just like in a cinema.

Quil sat me down next to the cupboard. There were hundreds, and I mean hundreds of DVD's. Why would you even have this many?

I let Quil pick one out, Yogi Bear. Okay.

Quil lay down across the entire side of the couch, leaving me with the other side. It was much colder, but I put a blanket across my shoulders.

We watched movies for the next few hours, Quil dozing off in the middle of Ice Age 3. I couldn't really blame him, this was the fourth movie that we had put on.

When the air got too cold I lay down next to Quil, huddling into his side. He was nice and warm.

I closed my eyes, listening to the rest of the movie.

"Claire?" I opened my eyes. The room was much darker, the air colder.

"Mmm?" I mumbled in reply.

"Come on, we have to go home," Quil told me.

"Okay, where's Mum?" I asked.

"I think she's still at the party. The music's still going," he said.

I listened carefully but couldn't hear anything. Oh well.

I allowed Quil to carry me back down to the room. There was only a few people still here, most of them had probably called it a night.

The few that were still here were stumbling around, making weird attempts at dancing.

Drunk. Oh joy. I huddled into Quil a bit further.

He walked over to one of the couches where Mum was asleep. Where was Brock? Quil sat me on the couch and picked Mum up with one arm. He held my hand with the other.

Quil somehow remembered the way out, leading us back to the car. He took the keys out of Mums bag and opened the door, sitting her in the back and buckling me in before getting in the drivers seat.

I must of fallen asleep because when I opened my eyes next I was in my bed and Quil was asleep beside me.


	11. Chapter 11

**First day of school...**

**Claire's POV**

"I am not going, and you can't make me!" A little girl wailed behind me. Her mother gave her a stern look and then dragged her through the gates, passing by us.

"Do I have to go?" I asked, watching the scene nervously. I re-arranged the bag on my back for perhaps the hundredth time.

Quil nodded, also watching the pair.

"Come on Claire, everyone has to go. You get to learn new things." He told me. That response sounded rehearsed, but it was probably true.

I looked up at the gate fearfully. Who knew what was behind that fence.

Quil opened the gate and walked through it, holding it open for me. There was a black lock at the top, out of my reach. I wouldn't be able to get out of here without help.

We walked down a path and stopped near the door of a classroom. There was a large sign on the door that read 'Mrs Chaytons Classroom'. The majority of the children were running around and playing on the playground. A few others were crying, hanging onto their parents legs like overgrown leeches.

"Quil?" An female voice asked from our left. I turned around to see a woman in her late 50's, she was fairly small, with greying black hair that was in a long braid.

"Oh, good morning Mrs Chayton," Quil replied.

Mrs Chayton, she must be the teacher. How did Quil know her?

"I haven't seen you in ages! What have you been doing since gradution?" She asked.

"I'm working as a mechanic," he told her.

Mrs Chayton smiled down at me.

"And who is this?" She asked cheerfully.

"I'm Claire," I told her with a small smile. She seemed nice.

"That's great, I'm going to be your teacher. Did you know that I taught Quil when he was little?"

"You did?" I asked incredulously. That must have been ages ago.

Mrs Chayton nodded.

"Always getting into trouble, he was. One day he was with Embry and Jacob, and you know what they did?" She paused dramatically.

I watched in anticipation. Embry, Jacob and Quil, it was already sounding like a recipe for distaster.

"Well, it all started when they found a mouse in the cupboard. The little girls were so scared of it that they ran around screaming for a good 15 minutes," she began.

I could just imagine that, it must have been a disaster. A very loud disaster. But how did Quil come into the story?

"I was really sick of all the noise so that afternoon I showed them how to build a mouse trap. It caught the mouse while keeping it alive," she said.

I wonder if she was going to teach us how to make a mouse trap. We needed some in our house, one had chewed up my wheat bag the other day.

"So we caught the mouse and a few weeks passed. I thought that, that was the end of it. No more screaming and I would be able to get back to teaching. But that was not the case."

Quil was trying not to laugh at this point, barely suceeding.

"Anyway, one morning the three of them came in carrying all these ice cream containers. They told me they were full of insects to feed our pet frogs, looking up at me innocently like little cherubs."

"And just as I was taking the role... they opened the containers and mice ran everywhere! There must have been at least 50 of the smelly little things and they ran all over the classroom.

They got into the cupboards and under the tables. We were finding them all around the classroom for weeks! And everytime one was discovered there would be more screaming and yelling and a huge carry on."

"One little girl was so upset that she decided to go a different school." Mrs Chayton finished with a chuckle.

Quil and I were both laughing by this point. That must have been hilarious! I would have to ask him later for his side of the story.

Just then the bell rung. What did that mean?

"In you come then Claire. We're mainly going to be settling in today. We'll do painting and I'll read everyone a story," Mrs Chayton said.

That didn't sound too bad. Quil picked me up and gave me a hug. I would be fine.

"See you later," he told me, setting me back on the ground.

"Bye," I whispered back, knowing that he would hear.

Mrs Chayton watched us curiously but shook her head and led me inside.

The classroom was fairly small, and it had lots of tables scattered around it. There were tiny chairs gathered the tables, just my size. Quil wouldn't have been able to sit on them, they would probably break. At the front of the room there was a larger table and desk, as well as a fluffy purple mat. Towards the back of the room there was a sink and a brown, wooden door.

"The desks have name tags on them," Mrs Chayton explained, "but for now you can just sit on the rug, okay?"

I nodded and sat down on the rug, it was really soft. There was another old woman sitting at the side of the classroom. Maybe we had 2 teachers?

Mrs Chayton went outside and called the other children.

They all came in and sat down on the rug. Mrs Chayton followed them inside.

"Hello everyone, My name is Mrs Chayton and I'm going to be your teacher for this year. Mrs Marlina is going to be helping out today," she announced kindly, gesturing towards the other lady.

"Now I know that everybody doesn't like rules but I'm going to have tell you a couple of them. The first rule is that you have to put up your hand if you want to talk.

The second is that you cant all be talking at once. Only one person talks at a time, and if I'm talking, then no one else is allowed to.

We cant have any running inside the classroom, and we have to use our inside voices.

The last one is that if you hear me play this song," she clicked a button and music turned on, "you all have to come and sit on the rug."

Okay, that didn't sound too hard.

"Right, now we're going to go around the room and say our name and our favourite colour. Mara, you can start us off," Mrs Chayton said, nodding to a girl at the front.

"My name is Mara and my favourite colour is purple," she said loudly.

"My name is Adsila and my favourite colour is pink," another girl said.

I was next, "My name is Claire and my favourite colour is blue," I said quietly.

The rest of the day went past really quickly. We sang songs, did paintings, played with playdough and played chasey on the oval.

I played with a girl called Tadita, she was really fun.

After lunch Mrs Chayton let everyone play on the playground while she called us into the classroom seperately. I was one of the last people to go in.

When I entered the room Mrs Chayton was sitting on her chair with a piece of paper and a pen.

"Hey Claire, so how are you going with school so far?" She asked me.

I shrugged, "I'm having fun," I told her.

She nodded and handed me a basket of books.

"Pick a book," she told me. I grabbed the one that was closest to the top and sat it in my lap.

"Do you want me to read it?" I asked her. She nodded. Okay, I could do that.

I looked at the cover, it had a picture of a sneezing wolf. "The true story of the three little pigs," I said clearly.

"Everybody knows the story of the three little pigs. Or at least they think they do. But I'll let you in on a little secret. Nobody knows the real story, because nobody has ever heard my side of the story."

I turned the page, "I'm the wolf. Alexander T. Wolf. You can call me Al. I don't know how the whole big bad wolf thing got started, but its all wrong. Maybe it's because of our diet. Hey, its not my fault wolves eat cute little animals like bunnies and sheep and pigs. Thats just the way we are. If cheeseburgers were cute, folks would probably think you're big and bad too." I continued, stumbling slightly on the words Alexander and folks.

"But like I was saying, the big bad wolf thing is all wrong. The real story is about a sneeze and a cup of sugar," I was smiling by now. Everyone had heard the story of the three little pigs, Embry liked to joke about it quite a lot.

"Okay, you can stop now," Mrs Chayton said. I nodded and closed the book.

"Did your Mum teach you how to read Claire?" She asked kindly. I shook my head.

"Quil taught me and Aunty Emily and Kim helped whenever he was busy," I told her truthfully.

Mrs Chayton looked kind of surprised but nodded anyway.

"Do you mean Kim Conweller?" She asked.

"Yeah," I replied with a nod. She must have taught Kim too, I wouldn't be too surprised if she had.

"How do you know her?" She asked kindly, probably trying to make conversation.

"She's always with Jared, and he's friends with Quil so I see her quite a bit," I replied quietly.

Mrs Chayton nodded and looked thoughtful.

"And Quils your friend?" I nodded.

"Do you have any other friends?" I shrugged.

"Sort of, Nessie is my friend as well," I told her. I didn't feel like saying anything else.

"Okay, you can go back to the playground now. Could you please ask Peta to come in here?" I nodded again and left the room.

Peta. Now, which one was she? I went up to a large group of girls.

"Hello, Mrs Chayton said that Peta had to go in and see her," I announced.

"I'm Peta," one of them said, skipping over to the door. I memorised which one that was before going and playing on the monkey bars with Tadita. It was really fun.

Mrs Chayton played the music a few minutes later and I ran back into the classroom. I was the first person to be sitting on the mat.

"Okay everyone, its nearly time to go home now. Tomorrow we will be learning a bit more, today was mainly for fun. You can all talk quietly while I hand out these notes. You need to make sure they get back to your parents straight away, alright." Mrs Chayton said.

Everyone began to talk among themselves, I just stared at the floor in silence. Mrs Chayton gave me three different pieces of paper.

I looked at them carefully. One was explaining what we would be learning this year, another was just saying 'welcome' and such. The third one was a medical form.

I didn't really need the first 2, but I would have to get Quil to fill out the medical form.

A loud bell rang from outside. Could we go home now?

"Okay everyone, most days you will be allowed to leave on your own, but just for today you have to wait for someone to pick you up," she called.

She opened the door and let the parents in. Quil was one of the first people inside. He quickly glanced around the group, gliding up to the mat and picking me up.

I gave him a hug. I had missed him, not that I was going to say so. I was older now, I should be able to go for a few hours without seeing Quil.

"How did it go?" He asked, squeezing me tight.

"Good," I replied, happily. He sat me back on the floor and glanced down at the chairs. I heard his deep chuckle, probably realising how small they were.

Mrs Chayton had everyone stand in a line, and was collecting peoples phone numbers as well as ticking them off on her list.

Quil looked over the papers, finding the medical form. He found a spare pen on a desk and knelt on the floor, still towering over the desks.

I giggled slightly. Quil was way too big for the furniture. He glared at me playfully, before beginning to fill in the form.

I heard him snort at one of the questions. I looked around his shoulder at the paper, there wasn't anything funny about it, but I couldn't understand a lot of the words.

_When was the students last rabies vaccine?_

"Quil, what's rabies?" I asked. He chuckled again.

"Its a disease that you can get from being bitten by a sick dog," he explained. Oh, that explained it then.

He finished the form and signed it, getting into the long line for the door. I went and collected my bag, handing it to Quil. We waited in line for about 10 minutes before it came to our turn.

"Thanks Quil," Mrs Chayton said, adding the medical form to her stack.

"Brooklyn, surely you aren't going to let the poor girl leave with him. Has he filled out the necessary forms?" Mrs Marlina asked rather rudely.

Mrs Chayton sighed. "I don't think that is really necessary Mrs Marlina, I'm sure Quil will make sure she gets home okay," she said.

"It is a school rule, Brooklyn. One that we must abide by," Mrs Marlina said angrily.

I officially decided that I didn't like Mrs Marlina.

Mrs Chayton took a deep breath, as if trying to keep calm.

"I know its a rather silly little rule, but you need to get permission from her parents before you can take her home," she said apologetically. "Do you know their phone numbers?"

Quil didn't bother to tell her that I only really had one parent. I leaned up against his arm, waiting patiently.

She pulled out her phone and dialled the numbers as Quil said them.

"Hello? Yes, this is Mrs Chayton, I'm calling from the La Push primary school," she said. I couldn't hear Mum's response, though Quil probably could.

"I just need your permission to let Claire go home with Quil for today, I'll send a form home with her that you can fill out which will allow him to collect her for the rest of the year," she said. I switched between watching Quil and Mrs Chayton, trying to work out what was going on.

Quil winced and glared at the phone. Oh no.

"Yes, I am aware of that, ma'am," she continued.

"Well I'm sorry but its simply school protocol," she answered. The phone cut off and began to beep. Mum had hung up.

Mrs Chayton sighed again and lowered the phone.

"I'll take that as a yes. Could you please sign here?" She asked Quil.

He signed the piece of paper and gave it back to her.

"Okay, you can go now. I really am sorry about all that," she said. Mrs Marlina simply glared at Quil suspiciously.

"Its fine," Quil replied with a nod, walking out the door. I followed behind him.

When we were outside he picked me back up. I cuddled into his shoulder as he walked back to the car.

"Why couldn't you take me home without Mums permission?" I asked Quil quietly.

"They just don't want strangers to kidnap you," he replied.

Well that made sense, but Quil wasn't going to kidnap me. If he was he would have done it ages ago.

"So what did you do today Claire?"

"Well first we just talked for a few minutes. She told us all of the rules and stuff like that. Then we had to tell the class our name and our favourite colour," I told him.

He nodded, watching me curiously. Quil always listened to me, even if what I was saying wasn't very interesting.

"After that we played with playdough and some building blocks. I played on the monkey bars, and that was really fun. I had to climb up onto the hand rail so that I could reach them though. I played with a girl called Tadita, and she was really nice. I got to read a really good book to Mrs Chayton about the three little pigs, but it was the wolf telling the story."

I continued to fill him in on my entire day, not sparing any details. The first day of school was really fun, but after that day we did a lot less playing and a lot more learning. I really enjoyed school, I got to learn lots of new things that Quil had never thought to tell me.

By Friday afternoon I was really tired though. Enough to nearly fall asleep while we were sitting on the mat, waiting for the bell to ring. When it finally went, I stayed on the rug and closed my eyes, waiting for Quil.

He had said that he was going to pick me up from the classroom today because he had to give Mrs Chayton a note from Mum. She had finally signed the form that allowed Quil to legally pick me up from school each day.

"Hey Quil, looks like you've got a tired little one over here," Mrs Chayton said with laugh. I heard a familiar chuckle from behind me, and a pair of warm arms picked me up.

I opened my eyes and looked up at Quil. He was smiling, but his face was slightly tense. I wondered what was wrong with him. He wasn't just worried about me, was he?

"I'd better get her home then, have a good afternoon," Quil said to Mrs Chayton. I waved to my teacher over Quils shoulder. She smiled at me and returned to her paperwork.

"Did you have a good day?"

"Yeah, it was fine. Tadita invited me over to her house for a play. Could you call her mum and arrange it?"

"Sure. When did you want to go?"

"I dont really mind. Oh, and you know what else happened? Mrs Chayton was telling funny stories about Embry. Apparently he covered the principal in green goo," I said with a giggle.

He chuckled at that part, his chest vibrating.

"Yeah, he was aiming for Mrs Marlina I believe." I giggled, that would be a good idea, Mrs Marlina was a real grouch.

Quil still didn't look particularly happy though.

"Are you okay?" I asked him quietly. He froze for a second before speaking.

"Anyone ever told you that you're too observant for your own good?" He replied with his own question.

"Quil," I mumbled. He didn't have to tell me, it might have been something to do with the wolves or something, but I didn't like seeing him unhappy.

"Its not really my place to tell you," he replied. Was it a wolf thing or something else?

"Am I going to hate it?" I asked as he put my in the car. He buckled me in and closed the door, walking around to the drivers seat.

He shut his door and started the engine.

"Possibly."

I wish he would just tell me, he wasn't making any sense.

The rest of the ride home was spent in silence. I watched the scenery fly past the window, Quil drove fairly fast, but nowhere near as fast as Mum.

We pulled into the driveway, but Quil didn't get out, he simply stared at the house. Okay, I'm starting to think that the problem was inside, most likely Mum.

I took off my seatbelt and climbed into the front, settling myself on Quils lap. I looked up at him, studying his worried brown eyes.

"What did she do?" He smiled crookedly and slipped his arms around me, leaning down to give me a hug. I rested my head on his shoulder. Quil smelled like the forest, like pine trees, wood and fresh soil all put together.

Was Mum dead or something? He probably would have told me straight away if she was. Pregnant perhaps? I could survive that. It couldn't be too bad, I decided. If it was he would have called up the school.

There was a silver car in the driveway. Okay, so Mum had a friend over.

Quil sat me back down on the porch and opened the door, gesturing for me to enter the living room. Mum was sitting on the couch with a man I had never seen before. He wasn't a native. Light brown hair, blue eyes and relatively tanned skin, though it would still be considered pale on the reservation. He was slightly shorter than Quil.

Mum was dressed in a low cut purple dress, her makeup and hair was done and she was wearing her most expensive jewellery. The man was wearing a grey suit and tie, they had probably just gotten home from a late lunch or something. What was I missing?

They looked up as we entered the room. I couldn't help noticing that they both looked excited, Mum probably slightly more than the guy.

Quil sat down on the couch with a sigh, an expectant expression on his face. I sat down beside him, making sure Quil was between me and the stranger.

"Hey Claire, how was your day?" Mum asked. I was preparing myself to be introduced to another of her 'friends,' even as she spoke.

"It was great. I was invited to a friends house," I replied. Mum liked to put on an act for her friends and unfortunately I had to be a part of it.

"Thats good sweetie," she replied. Sweetie, oh great. "Why don't you sit on Quil's knee so that you can see us properly?"

Quil picked me up, making sure I could see Mum.

She was suggesting that I sat in Quil's lap? She usually had a fit if he carried me anywhere, telling me that it wasn't very grown up and blah blah blah.

"Now, I'm not really sure how to tell you this darling,"

What was she going to say? I was still betting on the pregnant idea. I wonder what it would be like to have a sister or brother. Would Quil play with the baby as well? I could take care of it, feed it milk from a bottle and stuff like that.

Mum was taking forever to talk, she was now staring into the mans eyes like a lovesick puppy. Would she just say it already?

Quil already knew what was going on. Maybe he would give me a clue? I looked up at him in question, he glanced away, not meeting me eyes.

I glared at him, and tapped his head. Just tell me already!

He was still ignoring me. I waved my hand infront of his face. I was trying to be patient, really I was. But could someone please just tell me?

"Is she pregnant?" I asked Quil quietly.

Quil sighed and shook his head, holding up his left hand and gesturing to Mum.

Oh no.

I must have made some sort of sound, because I felt Quil give me a hug, also cutting off my escape route.

I was too busy staring at Mum's hand to even attempt to move, or more correctly, staring at the silver ring that was on her finger.

She couldn't get married! She just couldn't!

I wriggled, trying to get away, but Quil held on tight. I felt him gently stroke my arm, trying to make me calm down.

"Quil," I whined, trying again to move my arms out of his iron grip. No such luck.

He mumbled a quiet apology but didn't let go, if anything holding on tighter. I eventually stopped trying, refusing to look at him. I had no chance of getting away if he wasn't going to let me go.

Traitor. Quil was supposed to be my best friend, why wasn't he letting me leave?

I took a deep breathe. Quil was older than me, he probably knew what was best. He was usually right about these things.

Mum and the stranger were still staring into each others eyes, not noticing my problem. Quil looked sad, like he really wanted to let me run away, but he couldn't for some reason.

It wasn't his fault that Mum was getting married.

I sighed pitifully, snuggling back up to Quil, and leaning against him. He released his grip on me, probably realising that I had given up.

"It will be okay," he murmured. No, it wouldn't be okay. We might have to move house and, sell this one. We might be moving somewhere far away, somewhere that Quil couldn't visit. The man might turn out to be horrible, he would fight with Mum, probably hate me. The exact meaning of not okay.

"But Quil, what if we have to move to a place really far away? Too far away for you to come and visit me," I whispered.

"You're not moving far away, I'll still see you the same amount," he told me.

"How do you know?"

"Because I may have been sitting outside listening to their conversation before I had to pick you up," he whispered back with a small chuckle.

I stifled a giggle. Okay, that was slightly better then, at least I would get to see Quil.

"So where is it?"

"Only about 15 minutes away. The house is slightly bigger than this one and its surrounded by pine trees. Its really pretty." Quil sounded as if he had already been there, but would he of had time? I wasn't really sure.

"You're going to have a new father," Mum finally announced. They looked at me expectantly, waiting for a reaction that I wasn't going to repeat.

"That's great. When's the wedding going to be?" I asked, trying to sound excited. Quil froze, and tightened his grip on me again.

Oh no.

"Its going to be tomorrow, we've been planning it for months! Now, we had better go shopping for your dress, the shops are open late tonight," Mum said.

Tomorrow? Been planning it for months? Dress shopping?

I considered asking Quil to put me down, and then running for the beach. I could hide somewhere in the forest, and then come back when they were all asleep. Or maybe I could walk to Aunt Emily's house, that wasn't too far away. She would give me a hug and perhaps a chocolate chip cookie.

Aunt Emily, had she known about the wedding? Was she invited? If the wedding had been planned for months, had everyone known about it without telling me?

"Elise, Claire has had a really big week, she was nearly asleep when I came to pick her up. Perhaps you could just find a dress her size and bring it home for her?" Quil suggested.

Mum shook her head.

"No," she said, ending the discussion. "But I suppose you can come if you'd like." I sighed in relief, shopping with Mum on my own would have been dreadful.

My soon-to-be-step-father chuckled to himself.

"Now Elise, why would the boy want to come shopping? It's any mans nightmare," he said.

Mum smiled at him sweetly, "In that case, why don't you come as well? You still need a tie, you cant wear that one."

He rolled his eyes but agreed to come. The two of them stood up to get changed into casual clothes.

I swallowed and looked up at Quil, trying not to look upset.

"What's his name?" I asked.

"I don't know, worst come to worst we can find out at the wedding," he said.

I nodded, assuming that he would say his name during the ceremony.

"Is Aunty Emily invited?"

Quil shrugged, "I don't think so, but I haven't talked to her in a while".

Surely she would have told us if she was. But what if she just assumed that we already knew?

Mum came through the hallway, holding hands with the man. She took her bag off of the kitchen bench and started towards the door.

"Why don't we take my car?" The man suggested, pulling Mum into a hug as they walked.

"Okay," Mum replied with a giggle. She was so weird when she had friends over.

Quil stood up and followed them out, shutting the door behind him. The man opened the car with a click, and held the door open for Mum before getting in.

Quil sat me in the back and climbed in next to me. I put my seatbelt, resting my head on Quils shoulder.

I had to stay awake so that we could go shopping... but I was so tired. Quil gently stroked my back, really not helping me to stay awake.

Mum and the man were busy planning the wedding, talking about flowers and napkins and other stuff that I didn't really care about. If I was listening I would probably find out where the wedding was going to be, and any extra information I should probably know, but Quil was probably already doing that. I could just ask him later.

I forced my eyes open and sat up straight. I will not fall asleep. I will not fall asleep. I will not fall asleep.

Don't ask me how, but I somehow managed to stay awake for the entire trip. The man parked in the closest spot to the door, and we all got out.

By now it was getting dark, I didn't know where we were, but it was really far away.

Our little group walked through the glass doors, heading up the moving stairs before coming to a line of shops. We went past bakery that had a delicious smell coming out from it, little tarts, donuts and sugary bread rolls filled the display cabinet.

Mum paused to admire some fabric, before entering a store. There were all sorts of clothes on display, bright coloured dresses, stockings, pants, mini skirts and shorts, scarves and jackets. But I didn't see anything that looked like a dress that a person would wear to a wedding.

I didn't talk, though Mum and the man definitly did. Quil just followed behind, making sure that I didn't get lost.

After about 15 minutes of wandering around that shop we left that area and went along another long hallway that was filled with people. We entered another huge shop, that seemed to sell everything.

We went around the checkout area, and through a large gate. My feet were really sore by this point, and we hadn't even started looking for a dress yet. Mum picked up a black shopping basket and headed off down an aisle, the man beside her.

I looked at the large shopping basket wistfully. Whenever Mum made us go shopping with her (she usually needed Quil to lift furniture or something), Quil would carry me around in a shopping basket. It was really fun, but I was too big for that now.

I wish that I was small again. At the moment I was too big to fit in the basket, and too big to be carried around, (though Quil still did it whenever I was tired), but too small to reach the shelf or the light switch.

After we had been walking for about 10 minutes, Mum stopped to look at napkins. I climbed up onto a shelf that was full of large, plastic coolers, pulling myself onto the empty one above it. Once here, I climbed onto the shelf above that. Mum glared at me but didn't say anything, returning her attention to the napkins.

"But we can't have just plain white, it doesn't go with the other colours," Mum said.

"It will go with the colour of you dress," the man chuckled.

"But seriously, we need either blue or gold and can you see any gold napkins?"

"Could always spray paint them. But if we cant do that then go with the dark blue."

"But the purple really is lovely, and the blue might stain something."

Quil rested against the shelf, looking as bored as I felt.

When it became clear that we weren't going anywhere soon, Quil tested the strength of the shelf, peering at the screws and metal that was holding it together. He obviously found it to his liking because he jumped up, sitting down beside me.

I grumbled a bit to myself. How could he get up so fast?

He picked me up, sitting me in his lap so that I could rest.

"You just have to stay awake for a bit longer, the shops will close in a couple of hours anyway," Quil told me.

"A couple of hours," I whined, opening my eyes.

"Now, what about the decorations? The florist will be setting up the flowers at 3:00, and I've already got the chairs. The pair of you get down from there," Mum ordered, already striding in a diferent direction.

Quil mumbled something that I couldn't hear and dropped down from the shelf.

"Quil, you're coming to the wedding, aren't you?" I asked, realising that we hadn't actually spoken about it. I had to do something to keep myself awake, talking would probably do it.

"Yeah, not that I've been invited, but I will come," he said, following Mum to the checkout. She hadn't invited Quil?

"Well, I haven't been invited, but I'm still coming," I told him with a grin.

We went into another area of the shop, where Mum picked out at least 12 large, glass bottles. They were tinted blue. We had to use 2 shopping trolleys just to carry them all. Quil pushed one trolley and I sat in the baby seat.

She also bought a really long piece of white lace, a packet of sequins and a tub of golden glitter.

We entered another shop, just a small one this time. This was looking better, it had wedding gowns, formal dresses and mens suits. The man picked out a plain black tie and Mum sorted through a sheld of veils.

What was I going to wear?

I lifted my arms and looked up at Quil, who rolled his eyes with a playful smirk.

"Yes Claire?" I glared at him.

"Can you please get me out of the trolley?" I asked icily.

"Of course I can."

He picked me up and sat me back on the floor. There was a rack of childrens dresses on special a few metres away. I found a pretty white one and held it up for Quil to see.

"That looks good," he told me. I took the dress to Mum, she was still looking at veils. Shouldn't she already have one by now? I tapped her arm, ignoring the look she was sending me.

"Is this okay?" I asked her quietly. She looked at the price tag and smiled slightly.

"Yeah, thats fine. Go try it on."

I did as I was told. The dress fitted me, though it was slightly too big around the waist. No one would notice that though. I stepped out of the dressing room and showed Mum. She nodded, which I took as a yes. I changed back and handed her the dress before having a quick look around the shop.

A few minutes later I was back to sitting in the trolley, waiting for Mum. The man purchased his tie and came to stand beside Quil.

"So I take it you're Quil? We didn't really have time for introductions, I'm Darron," He said, holding out his hand. It was a bit late for introductions wasn't it? Quil nodded and shook his hand.

"Yes, that's me. And you've met Claire," Quil replied, gesturing meaningfully in my direction.

"Of course. I'm sure we're going to be great friends," he said with a smile in my direction.

Unlikely. I faked a smile back at him, watching Quil make weird faces behind his back. Something had put him in a good mood. Either that or he was trying to put me in a good mood.

Quil held up a pink toy pig above his head, pretending that it was attacking Darrens ear. I stifled a giggle, trying not to let Darren realise that something was going on behind him.

He must have felt the air rush past him or something because he began to turn around. Luckily, Quil noticed and quickly darted to the side, returning the pig to its shelf before Darren could see.

Darren stared at him suspiciously but didn't say anything.

"So Claire, what sort of things do you like to do?"

Um. I don't know, visit Aunty Emily? Go swimming? Go to the playground with Quil?

Quil was behind him again, this time with a unicorn that was attacking a purple puppy.

"I like going to the beach," I told him after a few seconds. That was an easier one to explain.

The puppy had been eaten now, and the unicorn was circling Darron's head. A monkey entered the scene, riding away on the unicorn. As silly as it was it was still entertaining.

"Oh, that sounds fun," he paused for a few seconds, "so Quil looks after you most of the time?"

So we were going to have this conversatiion were we?

"Yes, he does. Mum's at work a lot of the time," I answered carefully.

Quil had returned the toys and stood beside me, his arms crossed, waiting for the next question. I think he scared him a bit because Darron quickly changed the subject.

"So what has Elise told you about me so far?"

"Nothing," I cut in before Quil could reply. Darron looked slighty surprised but continuued.

"Okay. Well, my name is Darron McCarthur,"

Darron McCarthur? What a weird last name. I seriously hoped that I wouldn't have to have that last name. I liked Claire Young much better, and if I absulotely had to have it, Trents last name was Stirling, which was fairly good.

"I'm 26 years old and I work in the oil mines," he finished.

"So how long are you usually away for?" Quil asked.

What did he mean?

"I'm usually away for 3 months and then home for 2 weeks," Darren explained.

Quil nodded, not looking very surprised. So he was away for 3 months at a time? That would be awesome! Except for the 2 weeks that he stayed at home, but it would be worth it. Everything would pretty much stay the same.

I tried to stop the smile spreading to my face, but wasn't sure if it worked.

"Okay, I'm done," Mum announced as she put the bags in the trolley behind me.

"Would you like me to take Claire for a while? You must be getting worn out by now," Darren said to Quil. I glared at Darren when he wasn't looking. I was staying with Quil.

"No, I'm fine," Quil replied.

We left the shopping centre, walking out into the cold night air.

I shivered and held my arms out. Quil let go of the trolley for a second and picked me up, pushing the trolley with one arm and carrying me with the other.

I was 6 years old, one of these days he was going to tell me that I was too big for him to carry around. That was going to be horrible.

Quil opened the door and put me in the car while he put the shopping in the back. I rubbed my arms, trying to keep warm as I waited for them to finish. Quil left to put both of the trolleys away while Mum and Darren got in the car.

"I've already chosen the entertainment, the man is supposed to be really good. Well he'd better be anyway, he was really expensive," Mum grumbled.

"What did you end up deciding on the cake?"

Such a boy. Only thinking about food.

"I ordered the black and white one, you're going to have to pick it up at 10:00."

"Me? Why do I have to pick it up?" Darren exclaimed.

"Because I have too many other things to do."

"Like what?"

"Like planning an entire wedding."

Darren snorted loudly.

The door opened and Quil got inside, closing the door behind him.

Darren started up the car and pulled out of the carpark, he stopped at Mc Donalds.

"Come on, everybody out," Mum ordered, getting out of the car. Quil carried me into the warm building.

"I want the garden salad with the italian dressing," Mum called out as we sat down, Darren heading off to order.

"Do you want to go on the playground?" Quil asked me, "there's no one else in there."

I thought about it for a few seconds, we wouldn't be coming back to the playground for another couple of months, but I was really, really tired.

But we wouldn't be back here for who knows how long, and by then the playground would probably be full of kids. With a small sigh I nodded.

Quil chuckled at my expression and sat me down on the slide. The room was really dark, but fairly warm. They obviously didn't think that anyone would be playing on the playground at this time of night.

I took off my sandles and climbed up barefoot. It was really easy to climb up when you didn't have any shoes on.

I really liked the playgrounds, they were bright and colourful, even if they were ocassionally dirty. Once I had reached the top of the slide I turned left, climbing up several levels until I got to the top.

From here I could see through the glass into building, though it was probably too dark for them to see me. I could see Mum sitting at the table, typing on her phone. Maybe she was still planning the wedding.

Darren was standing next to the bench, watching a thin girl in a black apron make coffee. She had nearly purple hair, that made her look really weird.

The rest of the shop was empty, apart from a dark haired man that looked slightly older than Darren. He was eating a piece of cheesecake while reading a newspaper.

I looked back to the ground but couldn't see Quil.

Where was he?

I heard a faint thump come from the ceiling.

"Quil?"

His head hung down on the other side of the wall. How did he get up there?

"Yes?" He asked with a chuckle.

"Can I come up there?" That looked really fun.

"Sure you can. I'll meet you at the bottom."

I nodded and crawled back to the slide, slipping down it quickly. Quil was already there when I arrived. I looked up at the tall, dark fence. How had he gotten up there? It was too dark to see anything else.

"Just don't tell your Mum, okay?"

I nodded and allowed him to pick me up. Quil stepped up onto the sign and climbed up the fence, holding me firmly to his chest with one hand. I forced myself to close my eyes, not wanting to look down.

"You can open your eyes now Claire," he told me gently. I did as I was told, trying not to look at the ground. Quil shifted me into his lap so that I could see properly.

We were sitting on the very top of the playground, probably on the roof of the tunnel I was just in. I could still see inside the building, Darren was still standing at the bench. They were taking a long time with his food.

Mum was still on her phone, though now she also had a magazine open. Planning a wedding was a lot of work.

"Quil, what time does the wedding start?" I asked quietly, turning to look up at him. Quil looked slightly unhappy, though he was doing his best to hide it. He looked down at the ground and gave me a hug.

"5:00."

A few seconds later he looked back up, a bright smile on his face.

"I wonder where they're going on their honeymoon?"

Honey moon? What in the world was a honey moon? Did it have anything to do with honey? Probably not.

"What's a honeymoon?" I asked Quil. He smiled back at me.

"It's a holiday that you go on after you get married," he told me.

That made sense, but why was it called a honeymoon? I decided not to ask. Well, that was good, I wouldn't have to see Mum or Darren for a while.

"So where am I going to stay?" Quil smiled happily, maybe I was staying with him? That would be really exciting. I knew that Quil had bought an apartment somewhere a couple of months ago, but I had never actually been there.

But who would look after me when he had to leave for the night? Perhaps I would just go to Aunt Emily's house. Quil spent a lot of time there anyway, and the spare room had a bunk bed in it.

"I don't know, they haven't said anything about it. Anyway, close your eyes again, the foods ready," he told me.

I decided not to even wonder how he knew that the food was ready and closed my eyes. I felt us drop to the ground, though I didn't feel the landing.

I opened my eyes again as Quil walked through the door. Just as he had said, there were 4 burgers and fries on the table, as well as a chocolate ice cream sundae that Darren was digging into.

I sat down beside Quil and took the food that Mum shoved before me, munching away at the fries before starting my burger. When I had finshed, I looked up at Mum. She was staring at Darren, having already finished her salad.

"Mum, who am I going to stay with while you're on your honeymoon?" I asked. She looked up at me in surprise, as if the thought had never occured to her. It probably hadn't. I tried not to feel upset, it didn't matter, I had Quil and he was even better.

"I dont know, Quil?" Mum asked, looking at him in question. Yes!

Darren choked on his sundae, and Mum looked at him with a frown.

"Sure. When will you be getting back?" Quil asked. Yay! I get to stay with Quil!

"You can't be serious Elise, leaving her with a teenage boy!" Darren exclaimed. Why? What was wrong?

Mum rolled her eyes. "I think that I know what is best for my own daughter," she said before looking at Quil. "We're only going for three days, Darren has to be at work on Wednesday."

Quil nodded, though he looked slightly surprised.

"You realise that you're asking for trouble, right? The girl will be dead by Tuesday," Darren continued.

Dead!

He did realise that Quil was sitting right next to me, didn't he? I glanced over at Quil, he looked angry, and was shaking slightly, but didn't say anything.

I shuffled closer to him and rested my head on his arm. The shaking immediately stopped, it was a trick I had learnt ages ago.

"Oh shut up," Mum ordered, standing up. They were already arguing and they weren't even married yet.

I sighed, imagine what it was going to be like for the 2 weeks that he was home. Maybe I could just stay with Quil for those weeks.

Darren and Quil stood up, and I climbed onto the chair so that Quil could pick me up.

"I'll take her," Darren said sternly, glaring up at Quil. Quil glared back, making me shiver slightly. He looked dangerous when he did that.

Darren looked scared for a minute before his eyes hardened again. He moved around the table and picked me up. His cold hands wobbled slightly, yep I was getting too big to be carried around. I tensed up, it felt like he was going to drop me any second now.

Mum watched him with a shake of her head. Darren grunted, storming back to the car. Quil followed right behind, ready to catch me if I was dropped. When Darren arrived back at the car he climbed into the back seat with me.

"You're up front," he ordered Quil. "Elise, you can drive."

Quil didn't look very happy about it but climbed into the front seat. Mum just snorted and took the keys, getting into the drivers seat.

No one spoke for the entire drive home, though Quil glanced back at me every couple of minutes. There was no chance of me falling asleep next to Darren, I no longer felt tired enough.

Mum eventually pulled into the driveway and we all got out, slowly unpacking the things and making our way into the house. Darren stayed next to me the whole time.

"Quil, could I speak to you for a minute?" Darren asked icily once we were inside.

"Of course."

The two of them went into the living room, Darren slamming the door behind himself.

Mum handed me my dress and went into her room, shutting the door behind her. I considered listening to the conversation, but decided against it. Quil always managed to work out when I was listening, and he might be cross if I did it this time.

With another small sigh I went into my room, putting the dress in my top draw and slipping on a jacket. This done I went into the kitchen, making myself a hot chocolate.

Mum came out of her room a few minutes later.

"Make me one as well," she told me, gesturing to the steaming cup. I nodded and handed her my untouched cup, making myself a new one. Mum sat down at the table and began flicking through her magazine again.

Roughly 10 minutes later Darren stormed out of the kitchen, Quil nowhere in sight.

"Where is he?" Mum asked skeptically.

Darren snorted.

"He went home."Mum nodded and went back to her magazine.

I wonder what had happened, maybe I should have listened in. He obviously wasn't staying the night, but that was fairly rare since he got his apartment. Quil wouldn't have left without saying good night.

"Make one for me," Darren ordered, looking at the drink.

I gave him mine, that I hadn't drank yet and left the room.

Maybe Darren had yelled at him?

I quickly had a shower and brushed my teeth before going back to my room. There was a couple of extra blankets on my bed but I didn't think anything of it. I stared out the window, into the darkness. I wonder where Quil is right now.

"Miss me?" The voice was quiet, but came from right behind me. I jumped in fright and turned around.

Quil looked upset, but gave me small smile when I looked at him. He picked me up in a tight hug, nearly crushing me in the process. Must be upset.

"Yep," I answered, "what did Darren say?"

"Oh nothing much," Quil replied, tucking me into bed, "I'll see you in the morning, I've got the key to the window. I suddenly realised how tired I was, sinking into the blanets and closing my eyes. Why did he have to leave?

"Goodnight Claire," he whispered.

"Night Quil," I murmured back. I heard the window click shut and the house was silent once more.

Just as I was drifting off I heard a wolf howl in the distance.


	12. Chapter 12

**Claires POV**

I was woken to a knock on my bedroom door. Darren walked into my room, a stern expression on his face.

"Get up, your Mum wants some help," he ordered.

I nodded, jumping out of bed and getting ready before going into the kitchen.

It was a complete mess, with food spread out all over the kitchen floor, magazines covering the table, and a piece of glitter covered fabric resting on the bench top. The blue bottles were spread out across the living room floor, and there was at least 8 huge bags of rice in the corner. Mum was sitting in the kitchen, speaking angrily into the phone.

"I don't care about your schedule, I need it done by 3:00."

"No!"

"Fine, but it better be there on time or I'm complaining to your manager!"

She hung up the phone without a goodbye and shoved several packets of biscuits at me.

"Claire, arrange these onto a plate. Make some sort of pretty pattern on that giant blue tray." I nodded but she probably didn't see it, she was already dialling another phone number.

I found the tray she was talking about and quickly began my job. There was almond bread, shortbreads, chocolate coated mint things, chocolate sticks, cream biscuits, almond fingers, jam biscuits, tim tams and all other sorts of things.

It only took me a few minutes to arrange them, and the plate looked really good.

Mum stormed around the bench, glaring at the platter.

"Melt some white chocolate and decorate the tim tams with some swirls, okay? They look cheap."

Okay? I found a block of white chocolate in the fridge and broke it in half. Once it was melted I spooned it into a snap lock bag and cut the end off, just like Emily had shown me with the icing a couple of weeks ago.

I then proceeded to draw swirls and lines on the tim tams, it was really fun.

When Mum was happy with the tray she handed me a recipe book that was open to a page, as well as 2 packets of defrosting pastry, a couple of jars of jam and some chopped almonds. She was still on the phone so she couldn't talk to me.

For the next 40 minutes I followed the recipe down to the very word. I cut each sheet of pastry into quarters, spread a thick layer of jam across it and sprinkled over the almonds. Then I tucked the edges in and put them in the oven.

I had made about 80 of them, though some looked slightly different to the rest, but no one would notice that. I arranged them onto the red tray and made a batch of icing, that I carefuly decorated them with.

I waited for the icing to harden before wrapping them up in gladwrap and sitting the platter with the rest of the food.

Mum had left the house about half an hour ago to do some last minute shopping in Forks, and I didn't know where Darren was.

Now what do I do?

I walked over to the table, where Mum had several lists of things to do.

_Fill up blue bottles with rice_

_Arrange flower petals into glass bowls (on table)_

_Iron white linen_

_Pick up cake (Or make Darren)_

_Food - seperate list pg 198, 200, 201,256, 400, 407 and 409._

_Set up chairs and and walkway on the beach_

The wedding was going to be in at the beach?

_Wedding rehersal, 12:00_

_Organise wine - in fridge_

_Clear out fridge to fit wedding food._

__The list went on and on. I decided to start with the first one, I couldn't mess that up. I made my way into the living room, where Darren was watching a T.V show with a can of soft drink. Mum was going to kill him.

It took me several minutes to work out how to open the rice bag, but once I had done that it was really fast. I pushed the fiished bottles into the corner of the room so that Darren wouldn't knock them over.

I decided not to arrange the flower petals, Mum would be cross if I messed them up. But I could clear out the fridge, there wasn't much food in it anyway.

The doorbell rang about 15 minutes later. I rushed over to the window, where Quil was standing. He smiled at me and waved a hello. I raced over to the door and swung it open before rushing outside.

"Morning Claire," he said as I jumped on him. He caught me and lifed me to his height.

"Morning," I replied with an excited smile.

He walked through the door and into the kitchen.

"You guys look busy, where's your Mum?"

"She went shopping, but did you know that the wedding was going to be at the beach?"

Quil nodded, "Yeah, Sam told Embry who told me last night. They're starting at the beach and ending at Emilys house for dinner."

I laughed at his sentence and tapped his arms to be let down.

"What do we do now?" I asked.

"Your Mum is going to arrive in about 10 seconds." I nodded, I wonder how far Quil can hear? Could he hear all the way to Aunt Emily's house?

"5...4...3...2...1 and.."

Slam! There goes the front door. Mum stormed through the hallway, carrying several bags of shopping.

"Ah good, you're here. Could you go and pick up the cake? Be really careful with it, here's the address, the lady's name is Marie. Claire, I need you to plate up some of this stuff." She said, gesturing to the bags.

Quil nodded and took the piece of paper before leaving the house. I followed Mum back into the kitchen.

"Right, since there aren't any good resteraunts around here, Emily's going to be cooking the main meal, but we have to do the dessert table. We're going to have white chocolate truffles, oreo pops, cupcakes, macroons and miniature chocolate caramel sundaes. You can arrange the jam tarts on the white platter for now," Mum explained.

I reckon thats the most she's ever said to me. I quickly arranged the tarts and wrapped them up. She then handed me a sheet of paper with the recipe for the sundaes on it.

"Don't do the decorations yet." I nodded and began breaking up the chocolate pieces.

By 11:30 we had finished the food, and Quil was back with the cake. It was really pretty, white icing and black flowers. The whole bench was covered in trays of delicious looking food.

Mum finished the last plate and then began sorting through her papers.

"Go get in the car for the rehersal. Quil can be the audience," she ordered. Mum then ran into the living room, and a shouting war began. I quickly raced out the door, not wanting to hear any more. Quil began stacking the bottles in the back of the car, and putting several bags in the spare seat. When he had finished he climbed in beside me.

Darren and Mum stormed back out of the house, slamming the door behind them and getting into the car.

"It's just a wedding. Here's a newsflash woman, it isn't going to be perfect," Darren shouted, red in the face.

I blocked out Mums response, closing my eyes. The door slammed a few minutes later and I got out the car, carrying a glass bottle and leaving the rest for the adults.

It was completely transformed, the play equipment had been cleared, the grass cut and everything was perfectly clean. We went along the path, that looked like it had just been swept and stopped at the beach. There was a large silver arch at the front and back of the walkway, with at least 100 white chairs in rows.

It was gorgeous.

"I want the bottles spread out along the edges of the walkway," Mum explained. I sat my one down and ran back to get another bottle.

Sam, Embry, Collin, Brady and Seth came out to help us, and the bottles were quickly finished.

"Sam, could you go and get the white sand from the shed? Brady can help," Mum ordered. I was surprised that she could remember his name, and even more surprised when Brady rolled his eyes but actually did it. Maybe Aunt Emily had told them they wouldn't be fed unless they helped.

They returned with 4 huge bags of sand. Mum made them spread it out across the walkway, it looked really pretty.

"Seth, could you go and ask Emily for the lights? There in a huge red box," Mum said as she continued to oversee the work.

"The rest of you I need the wooden posts and the wire, its next to the wood shed. Bring a hammer and a couple of shovels if you can."

They nodded and ran back to the house. Quil stayed with me.

When they returned Mum made them dig the posts into the sand along the walkway. When it was done, they tied the wire up along the top, connecting to the arches. She then had them string the lights up along the wire, twirling it around the arches. The other lights were put on the edges of the walkway.

"Okay, now Darren, you start standing here, the guys can stand here in a line. Claire, you stand there, holding a bunch of flowers, you can just pretend for the moment. When the Emily gives you the signal, you begin walking down the walkway and stand here. Okay? Laura, Arielle and Myla will follow you after a few seconds," Mum explained.

Who were they?

"Okay, you've got it. Lets go back," she turned on her heel and strided back to the house. Emily came outside with a basket of chocolate chip muffins and handed Mum and I one before sitting the basket on the table for the boys. I jumped away from the basket to avoid being squashed in the stampeed.

The rest of the day was a complete rush. We went back and forth from our house, bringing decorations, food and candles as well as anything else Mum thought that we needed.

At 4:00 the guests started arriving. Mum made us all go inside and get into good clothes. I put on a green dress, she said the white one was for later.

Darren seemed to have a lot of family, all dressed up. They were rather rounded, some with double chins. I heard Embry and Seth commenting on that fact, in different words.

Mum and Darren went out to greet them, while I hid next to Quil. He was wearing dark jeans and a dress shirt that I reckon Emily ironed. All of the boys were in their best, even Embry had dressed up.

There was a lady with a large blue shirt and a flowery skirt that was talking to Mum. They gave each other a hug and began chatting away. I could tell Mum was faking, but she was doing a really good job of it. I wonder if she had been in acting classes during school.

Mum turned around a gestured towards her. What did she want?

"She wants you to go and say hello," Quil told me, as if reading my mind.

Did I have to? With a small sigh I forced a smile onto my face and went up to the pair.

"Here she is. Claire, this is your Aunt Marilyn, Darrens sister."

"Hello," I said with a smile.

"Hello darling. Are you going to be a flower girl?" I nodded, trying to look excited.

And thats how I spent the next 15 minutes, meeting all the guests, and saying hello while trying to look happy and excited. On the inside, I was fairly unhappy about the whole wedding, but there wasn't anything I could do about it.

Once I had met everyone Emily rushed me into the house. I quickly got into my white dress and sandles. Then I sat down and waited while Emily did Mum's hair and makeup. She looked really nice.

The bridesmaids then came into the room. Laura and Myla were both really skinny, with blonde hair and tonnes of makeup. They were wearing identical dark blue dresses that were slightly too low and golden jewellery. Chatting away loudly, typing on their phones as they did so.

Arielle looked really uncomfortable and out of place, standing next to the wall. She was really pretty, with dark brown hair and slightly tanned skin as well as large brown eyes. I tapped the seat beside me, gesturing for her to sit down.

She smiled kindly at me and sat down.

"I'm Claire," I told her with a smile.

"Arielle," she replied quietly, "I'm Darrens niece."

I nodded. "I'm Elise's daughter, but you probably already knew that." She nodded.

"Can I do your hair?"

"Sure," I replied, getting up and returning with Emily's box of stuff. She had already finished using it.

"Are you sure she wont mind?" Arielle asked nervously, looking at Emily.

"It's okay, she's really nice," I paused for a second before continuing in a whisper "much nicer than Mum, though don't tell anyone I said so."

Arielle smiled at me and nodded. I sat down infront of her and took down my pony tail. My hair was really long now, reaching my waist in shiny black ringlets.

Arielle combed through it gently, I stayed as still as a statue. We talked quietly until my hair was finished. I looked in the mirror, my hair had been braided, with lots of beautiful flowers throughout it. I smiled into the mirror excitedly.

"Thankyou, it looks really pretty," I told her. Arielle smiled back and sat down on the bench.

"So, what school do you go to?"

"The one in La Push, its about 10 minutes away from here. I only started this week," I explained.

"Really? You look much older." I nodded, everybody said that.

"Are you still in school?"

Arielle nodded, "yeah, I'm a sophomore."

When it was nearly 5:00, the guests all made there way down to the beach, but I had to stay with Mum. I didn't know where Quil was, probably at the beach with everyone else.

"Okay, you ready?" Aunt Emily asked Mum. She nodded and began walking down to the path.

"Okay Claire, you go first, just straight down the walkway and stop in your place. Here's your flowers, hold them straight in front of you like this," Aunty Emily explained.

It was really dark, but the whole area was lit up by candles, it was beautiful. The air was slightly cold, but not at all wet, fairly rare for La Push.

I did as I was told, walking down the path and under the arch. There were lots of people, I could see all of Quil's friends, even Paul was there, sitting next to Rachel. Kim and Jared were sitting in the third row back, and she waved to me as I walked past. Quil just smiled and mouthed 'good job' to me.

I stopped at the end and stood in my place, that I had marked with leaf so I wouldn't forget. There were 2 other men standing next to Darren, that I hadn't seen before. An older man stood at the back and centre, grey hair and clothes, holding a small, brown leather book.

Arielle was next to arrive, followed by Laura and then Myla. And then Mum came, she looked slightly stressed, but was covering it up well. She glided down the aisle, not stumbling once. An action I would think impossible with the long dress that trailed behind her.

She stood next to Darren and took his hand. The old man with grey hair began talking, but I blocked him out, keeping my straight pose and looking over the area. Aunty Emily had joined Sam at the back, the twins were asleep, which was really good timing. She smiled at me as she caught my eyes.

Mums friends and family were to the left of the aisle, while Darrens were to the right. His looked fat , short and rather ugly, with either pale or red faces. Most of them looked unhappy, or cold. While on the other side the people were tall, tanned and had black hair. They looked happy for the most part, Embry made a silly face as I looked at him. I refrained from laughing and looked away.

"You may kiss the bride," the old man finished, snapping his book closed. Wow! Were we finished already? I didn't watch, instead staring at the audience. Emily and Sam were walking back down the path, probably to finish setting up the food.

That was it, Mum was married, and I had a new 'father'. I tried not to fell sad about it and be happy for her, but it was really hard. I felt my eyes tear up slightly, but refused to cry, I had been fine with it this morning, and I was too busy to even think about it all day, but now it seemed to finally come crashing down on me. I had a father, or a step father more correctly.

Mum and Darren went back down the aisle and began chatting to all the different people, most of them looked like they were waiting in line just for a chance to say hello. I followed Laura back down and went to see Quil.

Quil gave me a hug.

"Lets go and help Emily," he said, pulling me away from the crowds. I kept a smile on my face as we left, no one noticed.

We went back along the candle lit path and into Aunt Emily's yard. There was a huge amount of food set up, she must have been cooking all of last night as well as all of today. I nearly wondered how we were going to eat it all, but there was a lot of people out there, and most of them looked like they had a large appetite.

The back yard had been decorated with white lace, lights, candles, red rose petals and lots of glitter. There was several large heaters going, trying to keep the area warm. Tables and chairs were spread out across the yard, with white table clothes and candles in the centre. The cutlery and plates were sitting next to 2 large tables that held the main meal.

I wondered where they had gotten all the tables and chairs from, maybe they had hired them? The wedding must of been really expensive.

Aunty Emily came out of the house with my green dress. She leaned down and gave me a hug.

"Why don't you go and get changed, you wouldn't want to spill anything on your special dress," she told me kindly.

I nodded and went into the house. Sam was rocking Aran, trying to get him to go back to sleep I assume. I got changed and put my dress next to Mums make up bag. By the time I got back everyone was already eating. I looked around, trying to work out where I was supposed to sit.

Quil waved to me and gestured to the seat beside hm. He had already gotten me a plate of food. Brady, Seth, Embry and Collin were also at the table. I sat down and continued my study.

Brady and Collin were still discussing Darrens family's eating habits, though they couldn't really say much with the amount of food that was presently on their plate.

I turned my attention to my food, it was delicious. It was some sort of fish with a lemon sauce and a light, crunchy salad.

Aunty Emily came up to our table, dragging Arielle along behind her. They were both looking slightly flustered.

"I don't have enough seats so she's going to sit with you, okay? Claire, make sure the boys behave themself."

I laughed happily and gestured for Arielle to sit next to me. She perched on the edge of her seat, looking fearfully at the monsterous boys that were gathered around the table.

"Hey Arielle," I said happily. She smiled at me nervously.

I tried to see it through her eyes, they were tall and muscular, dark and strong no doubt. But it was sort of hard to think that they were dangerous when they were sitting there bickering like children over who knows what.

Quil smiled at her, obviously sensing the girls distress.

"I'm Quil and this is Brady, Seth, Embry and Collin. You seem to have already met Claire," he said, pointing to the boys as he named them. Arielle nodded and looked at the boys as he said their names.

They nodded a hello but continued with their own conversations.

"You know what we should do? The slime trick," Embry started.

"Yep, because that worked so well last time," Quil piped in.

"It worked fine last time," Embry snorted.

"If you count getting the wrong person as fine," Seth added.

"Shut up."

"I reckon we should fill up his entire room with balloons or stuffed animals or something," Collin said.

"He's a mechanic, we should put sticky notes all over his bike," Seth suggested.

"Could fill his room up with something else? Popcorn perhaps?" What were they talking about? I nudged Quil and looked up at him in question.

"They're working out what to do for Jake's birthday," he explained. Oh, that explained it then. I turned my attention back to Arielle, she had relaxed, probably realising that they were about as scary as toy puppies.

"I know, we should wrap his bike up in gladwrap or tin foil."

"Or maybe we should put it on the roof," Seth announced excitedly.

Arielle stiffled a giggle.

"We should put all of his furniture on the roof!"

I chuckled at that one." Billy might not like that idea," I added to the conversation.

"Okay then, just Jake's stuff and we can wrap his bike up and put it up a tree as well," Embry decided. They all nodded in agreement.

Absulotely terrifying.

"We should take whatever cake Nessie makes for him and replace it with a tray full of frosting as well," Brady said. Seth nodded.

"Okay, but we'd better not eat it, Nessie would get angry." They all nodded again.

With that topic decided on they went back to watching and nicknaming Darrens family.

"I reckon that one there can be Chubalito," Collin announced, nodding towards the fat man in a white suit. He had a double chin and a beetroot red face that stood apart from his clothing.

"If you get to name people, so do I. Therefore, the one in black is Blubber Boy," Brady continued.

"Guys," Quil trailed off, looking pointedly at Arielle. She didn't seem to be paying attention though, watching the man that was making his way to the front of the area.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we are gethered here today..." he began. The boys shut up, turning their attention to the speaker.

The next few hours were spent listening to boring speeches and watching everyone else eat loads and loads of food. Some of Darrens family even managed to out-eat the boys, and that was a near impossible task.

The wedding cake was really yummy, I had a spoonful of Quils, because there wasn't enough cake with all of Darrens family having huge pieces. I had an ice cream sundae, and it was really good.

When the boys were finished, Emily made them pack up all the stuff on the beach. Arielle and I sat at the table and waited for them to return.

"Who were those boys?" She asked me quietly.

"Just some friends, Quil looks after me most of the time," I explained.

She nodded but looked slightly confused. They returned then and she went back to silence.

Mum and Darren left at 8:30. Kim, Jared, Rachel, Paul and Collin as well as many others left, but the 'fattyO's' as Collin had named them continued.

By 10:00, nearly all of Darrens family and friends were drunk, and Arielle was looking even more nervous. The last of the party goers went inside, escaping the cool night air. Poor Aunty Emily would have to deal with them now, though I knew several of them were sleeping over.

"Why don't we go down to the beach for a while?" Embry suggested.

"Sorry, Leah's standing next to the car. She'll probably kill me if I leave her there any longer," Seth apologised.

"I heard that!" A voice yelled from the driveway. I laughed quietly.

"And I'm grounded, so I'd better get home before Dad gets home from dinner," Brady added.

They said their goodbyes and headed off into the night.

"I'm not tired," I cut Quil off before he could say that I needed to go to bed. He glared at me and closed his mouth.

"Fine then, but no more than an hour." I nodded excitedly.

"You coming Arielle?" We all turned to look at her. And then Embry froze, looking into her eyes in amazement. Arielle blushed and looked away, but his eyes never left her.

Quil stood up and clapped Embry on the back, saying something that I couldn't quite hear.

The four of us made our way back down to the beach, Quil giving me a piggy back ride. Embry stayed next to Arielle the whole time, watching her. What was going on? He was looking at her like Sam stared at Emily, or Jared stared at Kim or... I shook that thought from my mind.

We walked up the beach a fair way, well, I didn't really walk but you get the picture. When we came to the large silver rock we turned around again, heading back down the beach.

We stopped at the area where the wedding had been and sat down in the sand, a few metres away from the ocean. I huddled in Quils lap, trying not to let him know that I was cold. If he worked it out he would take me home straight away.

Embry sat down beside Arielle.

"Are you warm enough?" He asked her gently. She nodded, but even I could see that she was shivering. Embry took of his coat and put it around her shoulders.

"You don't have to," Arielle started.

"It's fine, I don't really feel the cold." Embry cut in.

She nodded and turned her attention to the waves, leaning into Embrys chest, probably not realising that she was doing it. I watched the pair happily, wouldn't it be great if...

"Sorry," she squeaked, shuffling forwards slightly.

Silly girl, I'm sure he didn't mind.

The light went out, leaving us in complete darkness. I couldn't see anything, though Quil and Embry probably could.

"Do you want to head back now?" Quil asked. I shook my head but he stood up anyway.

"You know, there's not a huge amount of point in asking me if you're going to take me home anyway," I complained.

Quil chuckled anyway. "You've got to be tired by now Claire, its at least 11:00."

I sighed but allowed him to carry me back to the house. As we walked under the verandah I noticed that Embry and Arielle were holding hands. He was probably just trying to make sure she didn't stumble in the darkness, but still...

Embry sat down on the chair beside the door.

"I think I'll stay here for a while," he announced.

Quil nodded.

"See ya."

"Bye," I said over Quils shoulder. I watched Arielle hesitate at the door before sitting down beside Embry. I smiled and closed my eyes, I was fairly tired, not that I was going to admit it.

Quil put me in the car and gave me a hug.

"What do you know about Arielle?" He asked me.

"She's Darrens niece, a sophomore, slightly shy and really nice," I rattled off. "Now, what happened with Embry?"

"What do you mean?" He asked back, pretending he didn't have a clue what I was talking about.

"Seriously Quil."

"You haven't been to my apartment yet. Do you want to have your own room or share with me?" Avoiding the subject.

"Quil!"

"What do you need to get from home?"

"Quil!" I yelled louder this time.

"What?"

"What happened with Embry?"

"What do you mean what happened with Embry?"

"I mean what happened with Embry."

"What do you mean, you mean what happened with Embry?"

"Quil!"

"What?"

I glared at him savagely.

"Fine," I gumbled. If he was going to refuse to talk, so would I.

Quil parked the car and got out, holding my door open for me. I climbed out, refusing to look at him as I did so.

He sighed and followed me into the house. I quickly packed the things that I would need and put them in a bag. Quil was sitting on the couch in the living room.

"You all ready?" I ignored him.

Quil sighed again and picked me up, I hit his arms, making him put me back down before storming out to the car. I climbed up the large step and got into the car, shutting the door behind myself and staring at the ground.

Yep, I admit it, I was sulking. But seriously, Quil never told me anything. It was so unfair.

Quil locked the door and got into the car, driving for at least 15 minutes before stopping and climbing out the car. He opened my door for me and I climbed out with a small sigh.

It was impossible to stay angry at Quil, especially when he hadn't actually done anything wrong. I rested my head on his shoulder, telling him that he was forgiven.

"I'm sorry Claire," he told me. He sounded like he actually meant it.

"It's okay."

"It's called imprinting," I nodded. Imprinting. What was it? Maybe I could google it? Maybe Emily would know?

"You realise I don't have a clue what that is right?" I asked.

"Yep. But it's a secret and you're really supposed to know it or I'll get in trouble, so don't tell anyone, okay?" A secret that I wasn't supposed to know.

"Okay," I decided, dropping the subject for the time being.

Quil walked up several sets of stairs before stopping at a door. He took the key out of his pocket and opened it, stepping inside. The room was pitch black and really cold, but I would soon warm up. Quil switched on the light, and I studied the room carefully.

It was a large room, mostly the living room but the corner was a kitchen. There was a green couch and a large T.V. in the centre of the room. The kitchen was fairly small, a microwave, stove,oven and fridge as well as several cupboards and a pantry.

Quil sat me down on the couch and handed me my bag.

"The bathrooms in there," he told me. I nodded and went to have a shower.

When I was finished I went back into the living room. Quil was still sitting on the couch, in the dark, watching Master Chef. I cuddled into his lap, resting my head on his shoulder as I watched the T.V. Quil switched it off and carried me into another room.

He sat me down on the bed and turned off the light so that the room was in complete darkness. I felt the bed dip and he climbed in beside me. I closed my eyes and settled into the blankets.

"Goodnight Claire."

"Night Quil."


	13. Chapter 13

**5 years later...**

**Quils POV**

My phone rang while I was under the white Commodore, trying to tighten a screw. I slipped myself out and hunted around for a few seconds before finding it on the couch. La Push Primary.

"Hello, this is Quil."

"Good afternoon, this is Marianna speaking, Claire was hoping you could come and pick her up? Her mother isn't answering her phone and its too wet for her to walk," a woman explained.

"Okay, I'll be there in a few minutes." I would have to be fast, this car was being picked up in an hour.

"Thankyou. Goodbye."

I found Claire sitting in the front office, probably the warmest place in the school. Her hair was about waist length now, still in the gorgeous little ringlets that I adored. I stopped the car right infront of the glass door and waited as she ran through the rain, getting in and quickly closing the door.

"It's absulotely freezing today," she grumbled, with a shiver. I looked her over, a pair of jeans, a green short sleeved shirt and a thin sweater. Now, I may not feel the cold but even I knew that she should be freezing.

"Ever think about wearing a jacket?" I asked, though I already knew the answer. Claire had never liked the things. I wonder how many times we had had this conversation, by the time she was 20 we would be up in the hundreds.

"I am wearing a jacket," she snorted, putting on her seatbelt as I drove away.

"You call that thing a jacket?"

"Close enough." Oh well, she would wear one when she was cold enough. Possibly.

"How was school?" I asked, not expecting much of a reply.

"Good. How long until you finish work?"

I shrugged, I had at least half an hours work on the Commodore, a bike that I hadn't even started looking at and an old pick up truck that needed a complete new set of brakes.

"Might still be a couple of hours Claire," I told her unhappily.

"Okay," she sighed. "But you had better at least drop in some time before tomorrow."

I parked the car outside of her house and gestured for her to make a run for it.

"I'll try, but no promises."

"Bye," she mumbled unhappily.

"See ya."

Claire jumped out of the car and raced through the pouring rain. I returned to the shop and got back to work, thinking as slid myself back underneath the car.

I wasn't getting to spend as much time with her as I would like, running the garage was taking up a large amount of my time.

Jacob and the Cullens had moved on to the next town, somewhere in England I believe, after a few people at the hospital had stated that Dr Cullen looked young for his age. Jacob was still the Alpha, and he phased every week or so, making sure there was at least 1 of the remaining wolves patrolling each night.

Embry had stopped phasing and was happily married, living about 3 hours away. We still saw him ocassionally, but it was too far away to do regularly. Arielle was expecting a baby girl sometime in the next 3 months.

So there goes my two best male friends. Seth had imprinted on a girl called Lilly, and was renting a unit near her university.

Collin had also imprinted, but it wasn't going too well. The girl lived in La Push, but seemed to dislike him. A lot. I think she had gone through school with us, but I hadn't ever spoken to her. I'm sure it would work out sooner or later, Collin was a nice guy, slightly quieter than the rest.

Brady and a few of the younger guys were still around, waiting to imprint I guess.

So at the moment it was just me, and for a small town there was quite a bit of work. Probably because the majority of the cars were ancient.

I finished the Commodore and moved onto the bike. About half an hour later the owner of the Commodore came in to pick it up. I explained the problem and filled out the paperwork. The man was in a foul mood, and he left a few minutes later, after complaining severly about the price of course.

I had been working for the best part of 4 hours when I heard a pair of small feet slopping across the pavement outside the door. The rain was blocking the majority of the sound, but it sounded like Claire.

What in the world was she doing? Her house was a good 20 minutes away, she would be drenched, and knowing her she wouldn't be dressed for the weather. Not to mention that it was about 8:00 at night.

I pulled myself out from under the pick up truck and walked to the door, swinging it open to reveal a very wet girl. She was shivering, her hair dripping with water, clothes completely soaked.

"Can I come in for a while?" She asked, her voice stuttering slightly.

As if I would say no. I opened the door wider and ushered her inside, wrapping her up in a couple of old blankets and sitting her on the couch, turning the heater on as I did so.

"You okay?" I asked gently, sitting down next to her.

"No, I'm freezing," she retorted, shuffling closer to me. I picked the bundle up and sat her on my lap, not caring that I was getting soaked in the process. I never got to hug her anymore, she wasn't the adorable little 2 year old that you could carry around anymore.

"Seriously though," I replied. She ignored me and snuggled herself deeper into my arms, closing her eyes. As much as I loved having her in my arms, I needed to know why she had decided to make a 20 minute trek in the rain.

"Darren's got some buddies over again, he had another fight with Mum," she explained. I shouldn't have left her there on her own. What if something had happened to her? I should make her hang around the garage after school, it would be really boring. But what if she got hurt?

"Why don't you hang around here after school for a while Claire?" I suggested.

"But there's nothing to do," she whined, looking up at me.

"It would make me feel a lot better."

She sighed and closed her eyes again. "Fine."

"Thanks," I wrapped my arms around her and rested my head on her shoulder for a few seconds.

"Are you nearly finished?"

"Yeah, just need another 20 minutes." I studied the wet bundle infront of me. Would she be warm enough? Maybe I should just take her home, the garage wasn't going anywhere. She opened her eyes and glared at me, "I'm perfectly fine Quil, now go away."

I chuckled and sat her down on the couch, getting back to work. The truck was pretty much done, I just had to fill out the paperwork and tighten a few things.

Half an hour later I came back to the couch. Claire was reading through a manual in the light of the heater.

"Ready to go?" She asked, looking up from the book.

"Yep." She put the book back on the shelf and stood up, hanging the blankets on the couch to dry. "Are you warm enough?" I asked, her clothes were still wet and there was a strong wind blowing outside.

"Yes Mum."

"Hey!" I complained, knocking her off her feet and hanging her upside down. "You take that back!" Claire laughed quietly.

"Put me down Quil, I'm too big, you'll drop me."

"Drop you? I could do it with one hand."

"Dont you dare!" Too late, I had already done it. "Quil!"

"Yes?" I asked innocently. She glared at me from her position.

I chuckled and sat her back down, turning off the heater. She stomped out to the car, climbing in the front seat. I locked up and then followed her, driving back to her house.

"So, what did you do today?"

"Not much," she replied evasively. I tried not to roll my eyes. "Mr Martin still hasn't worked out what my name is. He reckons I'm Mara," she sounded slightly hurt. Stupid teacher, he'd had her for nearly a year now.

"Mara notice yet?"

"Nope. Oh, and one of the boys set the clock forward an hour, so it looked like it was lunch time when it wasn't."

"Which one?"

"Taras." Ah, that one. Last week he had apparently hid all the white board markers.

Both cars were in the driveway when I pulled up. Claire paused at the door, looking up at me.

"What's happening?" She asked, gesturing towards the door. She had worked out years ago that I could hear better normal, and never questioned it. I listened carefully for a few seconds.

"They're in the living room, Elise is in her bedroom, why don't we go through the laundry?" I suggested. Claire nodded and we sneaked around the back, going through the laundry door and down the hall to her room.

"Have you had dinner yet?" She shook her head.

"Don't worry about it, I'm not really hungry," she told me. I looked into her eyes carefully. Lying. Claire needed to at least have something for dinner, she was alreday as thin as a dead twig.

I headed out the door and down the hallway, walking into the living room. Why couldn't they just put a door in the hallway? I had heard Elise complaining about having to walk through the living room every time she wanted to get in the kitchen a couple of months ago, but nothing had become of it.

There were 5 men spread out on the couches, watching the rugby, a mug of beer in one hand and a cigarette in the other. They had a large assortment of food spread out on the coffee table, chips, cakes, pies and a a couple of other things.

"Evening, care to join us?" One of them asked, I forced back a smile.

"Nah, I'm good." I continued on my way and began hunting through the freezer. I found a frozen spinach and ricotta roll and put it in the microwave for a couple of minutes. Claire hated spinach, but she didn't mind eating it when there was more cheese than the actual vegetable.

I went back through the living room, ignoring the fools on the couch. It was getting slightly violent now, just some general shoving and hollering as they cheered on the players. I grabbed several pies for myself when they weren't watching and continued through the hallway.

Claire was sitting on the floor of her room with a novel. I shut the door and locked it behind me, blocking out the noise.

I handed her the plate and scoffed down my pies before jumping up onto her bed. I had made her a bunk bed for her 8th birthday, a really tall one that was only about a metre and a half from the ceiling.

The railing had been taken down a few months ago, Claire had convinced Darren to do it for her when I refused. I hadn't been very pleased when I found out, but Claire had already taken the initiative to hide it. The deal was that she wasn't allowed to sleep on the left side of the bed unless I was there, making sure she couldn't fall off.

I spread out across the bed, glad that I had designed it to also fit my legs.

"Thanks Quil," she said, digging into her meal. I closed my eyes, resting against the pillow, it smelt lke Claire. There was a loud bang and crash that echoed throughout the house, and then some screaming as Elise entered the scene.

A few minutes later Claire finshed and put her plate down on the cupboard. Her light footsteps came towards me, stopping just infront of the bed. There was a quiet sigh before she took a small breath.

"I'm awake," I told her, not yet opening my eyes.

"Um, would you mind just hanging around in the hallway for a few minutes? I'll be really fast," she said hurriedly. Probably wanted to have a shower.

I planted myself infront of the door, listening to the water turn on. There was another crash in the living room and Elise stormed past me, with the 'don't mess with me' expression on her face. She was only wearing a singlet, showing that her stomach had grown a lot more prominent than the last time I had seen her.

She walked past again with her bag and a jacket.

"Watch Claire," she growled before stomping out the laundry door.

When was she planning on telling her daughter that she was pregnant? Claire was going to notice fairly soon, though Elise was doing a fairly good job of hiding it.

About 10 minutes later the water turned off. There was cheering from the living room, and another loud clatter. Claire got dressed and opened the door, spotting me on the floor. She slipped around me and went into the laundry, putting her clothes in the washing machine before returning to my side.

One of the men walked down the hallway towards the bathroom, taking another gulp of beer as he did so. This one looked worse than the others, tattoes on the left side of his face.

"Evening little darling," he drawled, leaning down towards Claire, I stepped into the doorway, blocking her from his sight.

"The bathrooms in there," I told him, pointing towards the door. He nodded, peering at me with wild eyes.

"Thanks. We're gonna head up to the pub for some dinner. You and the little lady should come."

"No thanks, we've already eaten," I replied, taking Claire's hand and pulling her back to her room. I lifted her onto the bed and then jumped up.

"Where's Mum going?" She asked me quietly, sitting herself in the corner. I shrugged.

"She didn't say."

After a few minutes I noticed the clock, it was 11:30, way past Claire's bedtime. With a sigh I jumped down and turned off the light, leaving the room in darkness. I made my way back to the bed and spread myself along the edge, making sure she wouldn't fall off during the night.

"Night Quil." She cuddled up next to me, closing her eyes.

"Night Claire."


	14. Chapter 14

**Quils POV**

I woke up to a slam of a car door, sitting up in bed and glancing over at the clock to find it was 3:00am. Sounds like Darren's home. Claire stirred beside me, awaking with a start. She jumped up and nervously peered around the room. Probably couldn't see. Now this is why we had the rail, so that no one could fall of during the night.

I reached out and placed her in my lap, while gently stroking her back.

"You okay?" I asked quietly. Claire nodded, leaning back on me for a few seconds before crawling under the quilts. But she didn't go to sleep.

"Darren just arrived, the other guys have already gone home," I explained in a whisper, laying back down at my post.

"Any sign of Mum?"

"Not yet." I shuffled closer, putting my arms around the small body. "Go to sleep." I whispered gently. She relaxed and closed her eyes, eventually drifting off.

The next time I awoke there was a knock on the door. I released Claire and jumped off the bed, striding to the door. I listened to the breathing on the other side, recognising the light pattern.

"Morning," I said politely, opening the door. Elise didn't acknowledge the greeting. She was wearing an oversized jacket that hid her growing stomach.

"Some stupid teacher signed me up to go on the field trip today, and I'm not going," she growled before stomping back to her room.

Okay? I assume that meant I was going.

"Claire?" I gently shook her shoulder. She opened her eyes and blinked a couple of times. "What field trip?" She stared up at me as if I was making no sense. I probably wasn't. "Your Mum said that you have a field trip on today, what is it?" I repeated slowly.

"Oh, that. It's supposed to be a surprise. People have been talking about it for weeks. Peta reckons we're going to Disney World," she snorted, rolling her eyes.

Wasn't that like 18 hours away or something?

"Isn't that a bit far away for a field trip?"

"Yep, but she also thinks carrots grow on trees, so her opinion doesn't count for much." I chuckled, leaning against the wall. "So why did you want to know?"

"Apparently your Mum was supposed to help out, and she's busy today," I explained.

"Are you coming?" She asked, her eyes lighting up.

"Well, I guess so." There was a car that was supposed to be dropped off at 10:00, but he could do that without me being there, I could just ring and tell him to put it in the driveway and slide the key under the door.

Claire crawled across the bed climbed down the side.

"Turn around." I did as I was told, resting my eyes for a few minutes. "I'm done."

"So has Mr Martin given you any clues about the field trip?" We entered the living room, surveying the mess. There were smashed plates and food on the floor, but nothing too seriously damaged.

"It's not with Mr Martin, it's with Miss Alaqua. You know, the new one?" She explained as she hunted around for a muesli bar. I grabbed one for myself and began packing some lunch.

"Oh that one." Hadn't she told Claire off when the other girls were talking, or something like that?

"Yep," she sighed. "She's running it, and there's about 2 other parents that were supposed to come, but I don't know if they're actually coming. And no, she hasn't given us any clues."

"How many kids are going?"

"About 18." That was a fairly small amount. I climbed into the car, typing a quick message to the man, I think his name was John, or something like that.

Claire reached over and fiddled with the heater for a few seconds. "What do they say about buying a car off of a mechanic?" She grumbled to herself, adjusting it again and again. "Bob seriously needs some help." I tried not to snort, barely containing my laughter.

"There, there," I said, gently stroking the car, "she didn't mean it."

"You're right, she means he needs to be used as scrap metal," she retorted, glaring at the dashboard where the word 'Bob' had been written in 8 year old hand writing.

I pretended to gasp.

"You evil person, apologise to Bob this instant!"

"But it's the truth!"

"Ssh! You'll hurt his feelings."

Claire rolled her eyes, but didn't say anything. We were in the school grounds, therefore meaning silent mode. I parked the car and climbed out, waiting for her to follow suit.

"Any clue what time we're supposed to be leaving?" I whispered, glancing around at the other kids who were gathered around the bus with their school bags and hats. Most of the other girls were wearing short shorts and a colourful t-shirt, with ballet flats. Their hair was either straightened or curled, and several of them wore a large amount of makeup.

Claire was in a pair of old jeans and a black shirt, with a brown jacket and sneakers. Her hair was done in its normal braid. She was much prettier than them, even without the makeup.

One of them giggled and pointed towards me, making the other girls turn around. I ignored them, focusing on Claire instead, still feeling their stares.

"As soon as school starts I guess, we're supposed to meet her at the bus," she mumbled to the ground, purposly not looking in their direction. If I knew for a fact she wouldn't be really embarassed, I would nearly give her a hug.

We walked into the school office closing the door behind us. There weren't any other students inside, for which I was grateful.

"Would I be right to asume you're filling in for Claire's mother?" The receptionist asked, glancing up from her paperwork. I nodded, slightly surprised that she had worked it out, but then again she had probably had several conversations with Elise in the time that she had worked here.

"Okay, just sign here. And I'll go and see if I can find Aisha." She slipped a form towards me and stood up, walking down the hallway and disappearing into an office.

I filled in the form and then pushed it back across the bench.

"I assume Aisha is Miss Alaqua?" I asked Claire quietly.

"Yeah."

A young woman came striding down the hallway, a large smile on her face. Long, straight hair that was pinned up at the top of her head, with small wisps hanging down. I suppose she could be pretty, but since I imprinted it didn't mean anything to me. She was just another person.

"Good morning! Thanks so much for coming, the other parents couldn't make it and I thought I might have to manage them all on my own," she sounded relieved. Before I could blink I was pulled into a hug, she smelled of strong perfume. Claire watched us with a weird expression on her face.

I leaned back uncomfortably, taking a small step away from her. She didn't notice, beaming back at me excitedly.

"Okay then, the bells about to go, so we may as well start getting on the bus." She walked over to the door, swinging it open and heading towards her students.

"Good morning everyone, are you all excited?" She was answered with several loud squeals. "Okay, when I call your name you can get on the bus. If anyone isn't here then you need to tell me."

She began to call out names, as children made their way onto the bus. Claire was the last one to be called.

"Claire. Who's that again?" She mumbled to herself. Claire sighed and climbed onto the bus, choosing a seat at the front next to Tadita.

She was still Claire's best friend, straight black hair and large eyes, and she nearly never spoke, well, not when I was around anyway. I ocassionally wondered how they were friends, with neither of them talking very much.

Aisha climbed on last, having a quick talk to the bus driver before heading towards the back of the bus.

"This is going to be so exciting!" One of the girls squealed from behind me.

"Totally! I wonder where we're going." The other one replied.

I blocked them out, turning my attention to the window. We were heading into the forest, towards the river. Perhaps we were going hiking along the trail?

The bus stopped about 15 minutes later, at a clear site next to the river. There were about a dozen plastic barrels, a huge bucket full of ropes, several wooden poles, garbage bags, life jackets, oars and lots of other things. It looked like we were making rafts.

Claire smiled excitedly, looking over the equipment.

"You think we're going to have a competition?" She asked Tadita quietly. I grinned at her expression, she was trying not to show how excited she was, and it was working to a degree. Her eyes were bright and cheerful though.

Tadita smiled and nodded.

"This is going to be fantastic!" She replied in the same tone. Would you look at that, the girl can actually speak.

"Okay everyone, off the bus," Aisha called. We gathered around the supplies, waiting for her to explain. I glanced over at the calm water, it didn't look very strong. Wasn't there water falls around here? Must be in a different area.

The class looked excited, though a few of the girls were fiddling with their hair and complaining about getting their clothes wet.

"Today we are going to be having a raft making competition. You will need to build your raft, have everyone in your team get aboard and then row yourself down the river to the finish line. It's marked with a big red flag and a rope that has blow up devices hung on it. First things first, you will need to split up into groups. There has to be more than 2 people in a group, and no more than 10 groups."

Automatically, the class began to split up into pairs.

"Right, everyone needs to put on a life jacket, I know they're terrible and ugly and so on, but I don't want to fill out the paperwork if one of you drowns." There were several giggles from among the crowd. "You have to wear them at all times. You can use whatever supplies you need, but try to share, okay? And if you need help you can just ask one of the adults. Any questions?"

One of the boys put up their hand. She nodded in his direction.

"What's the prize?"

"Its a secret, though I'm sure you'll love it. Now, go and put on your life jackets." The class quickly made their way over to the pile and began sorting through it.

"Now, whats your name again?" Aisha asked me.

"Quil Ateara," I replied.

"Okay, you can go around and help out wherever you're needed. There's not enough life jackets, but I'm sure you'll be fine. It's up to you if you want to go in the water or not. I certainly don't plan to."

I nodded, not saying anything else. I would just go with Claire and Tadita. The group re-assembled infront of the teacher.

"On your marks, get set, and... go!"

There was a mad rush as everyone took equipment over to their area of the clearing, getting to work.

"Excuse me, could you please help us to tie this together?" A boy asked from beside me.

"Sure, what did you want me to do?"

"We want to put this barrel here, and the other one beside it. The planks can go ontop and then we can tie it together with the rope."

For the next half an hour I helped the different groups work on their rafts, tying ropes, arranging wood and carrying them into the water. I didn't see Claire and Tadita, they didn't ask for help. Aisha lay herself down on a chair and read a novel, glancing up at the activity now and then.

When I had finally finished helping everyone that had asked I made my way over to where they were building. They were doing a fairly good job of it too, but I could still help.

"How are you guys going?" I asked, looking over their raft. It looked fairly standard, but it was a good design. Claire didn't bother looking up, though Tadita glanced at me for a split second, before nervously peering back at the raft.

"Okay," Claire told me. I didn't bother trying to have a conversation with either of them, Tadita rarely talked, and when she did it was only to Claire.

Claire was just as silent when they were at school, though she could chatter with the best of them anywhere else.

After about half an hour the raft was finished, and I may have done a slightly better job of it than the other ones. I had used extra rope, a lot more than was necessary. I didn't want it breaking apart in the middle of the river. Of course, I had also practised on 3 others before doing this one.

4 other boats were already in the river. One group of girls were just swimming around, trying to jump back on after they had fallen off. There was a lot of laughing, but not much rowing.

There was a boys group that had disappeared up the river about 20 minutes ago, they would probably win. It was probably a good thing, Claire didn't want to win it anyway, she was a shy little thing.

I pushed the raft into the water and paddled in myself, holding it still so that the girls could climb aboard. I couldn't really help them paddle, people would probably say it was an unfair advantage, and Claire thoroughly disliked attention. Sitting on it myself would just make it harder for them to row.

But I could swim along side.

Claire stepped on, the raft rocked slightly but I held it still. Tadita climbed on next, and sat herself down beside her friend, picking up an oar.

"You ready?" I asked Claire, relatively quietly. She nodded and held on tight, Tadita copying the motion. I pushed them out into deeper water, until we were far away enough to float. The raft creaked a bit, but held strong. Probably all the extra rope I had used.

I rolled onto my back and floated for a few minutes as they attempted to row. They didn't move much, but no one else was having a huge amount of luck either. When they got the hang of it I swam slowly beside the boat.

We followed a group of three boys through the river, staying about 10 metres behind them. After 20 minutes they finally made it around the bend, and out of sight to the rest of the class. Both girls were completely soaked.

Splash! The raft tipped to one side and Claire fell in head first. Tadita burst out laughing, nearly falling off as she did so. I tried not to laugh, but I couldn't quite manage it. She glared at the pair of us, attempting to clamber back on board. It didn't work and she slipped back into the water.

That just brought on more laughter.

"It wasn't that funny," she grumbled, not quite able to contain her laughter.

"Was too," I retorted, swimming up next to her. She grabbed onto my neck and tried to get back on.

"Was not."

"Was too."

"Was not," before I could reply she splashed an armful of water at me, as if I wasn't already wet enough. Tadita just continued to giggle, not joining in on the conversation.

I picked up my imprint and placed her on the edge of the raft.

"Move over then."

"Who says you get to come on?" She retorted with a playful shake of her head.

"Really?"

"Really."

"Okay then." Before she could reply I grabbed her arm and pulled her back into the water, jumping up to the place that she had just been sitting.

"Quil!" She attempted to pull herself up again, tipping the boat and falling back into the water.

"Don't tip the raft! I dont want to go in," Tadita squealed. Claire rolled her eyes but tried to keep the raft steady. I chuckled at her expression, moving out of her reach so that I couldn't be pulled in. I let her suffer for a few more seconds before reaching out and pulling her onto the raft.

It rocked for a few seconds and then settled.

"Fine, but you're rowing," she told me with a grin, handing me her oar and lying down.

"Sure." I continued to paddle up the river from the back of the raft, doing both girls work.

"What's the time?" Claire asked, glancing up at the sky.

"I don't know. Sometime around 11:00 perhaps?" I suggested, also looking at the suns position.

"Okay, any clue how far away the finish line is?"

"Nope, but I'm guessing it's ages away. This river is huge".

The two of them went back to chatting, and I went back to rowing. After a few minutes we rounded the bend and caught up with the other group. They didn't seem to mind that I was rowing.

"Do you know how far away the finish line is?" One of the boys asked me. I think his name was Isaac.

"No, I don't but we'd better stay as a group anyway." I told him. They nodded and continued rowing. About 20 minutes later we caught up with the group ahead of us, I explained that we needed to stay as a group and we continued along the river.

By 12:30 we still hadn't reached the finish line, and we needed to get back to school in a few hours. I wasn't really sure what to do, everyone else was somewhere behind, probably at different positions. I had been rowing fairly quickly for the past few hours, and the others were keeping up.

"Are we there yet?" Claire asked quietly, rolling over from where she had been resting.

"Nope."

"Do you think we should just stop the raft and walk the rest of the way or something?" Another of the boys suggested. That was a good idea, if we knew where the finish line was. I took a deep breath, the salt in the air was a lot stronger than before, we were getting closer to the ocean.

"It isn't that much further to the ocean, hopefully we're nearly there."

It took us another 15 minutes to arrive at the mouth of the river, and there was still no sign of the finish line.

"Okay, everyone take the rafts onto the beach," I ordered, stepping off to pull the rafts up. They did as they were told, and I carried the rafts one by one further up so that they wouldn't be washed away by the tide.

"What do we do now?"

"We can have a bit of a rest and then I suppose we'll go back," I replied. It wasn't a brilliant plan, but we couldn't find the finish line, and it couldn't be in the ocean. The waves would break the raft.

The boys nodded and walked a few metres away, settling themselves down in the sand.

Claire sat down next to me, and Tadita joined her. The pair of them didn't look that tired, but then again, they hadn't done that much rowing.

"You reckon there actually was a finish line?" She asked me, pushing the sand around with her fingers.

That was a very good question, there hadn't been anywhere we could have turned wrong, and she wouldn't have put it any further out. Either we had gone in the wrong direction, or the finish line had floated away. Failing those options, the teacher could have sent us on a wild goose chase, it didn't seem very likely though.

"I would think so, she didn't really have anything to gain from sending us on a wild goose chase," I told her.

"Other than getting to sit there and read her book for the day, while getting paid," she mumbled. She did have a point, but would she really do that? What if she had lost one of the groups? Who would want to explain to a pair of distraught parents why their child was lost somewhere along the river? Or the ocean?

"Yep, other than that," I admitted.

After another 10 minutes we set back out the way we came. I took turns relieving the groups from their rowing. The boys were still in high spirits, talking and joking as they pushed each other in and had a large scale water fight.

2 hours later we made it back to the rest of the class. The girls were sprawled around on the grass, talking and eating their lunch. The rafts were dismantled, and the supplies had been sorted and stacked.

I handed my oar to one of the boys and slipped into the water, pulling the rafts up the bank. I left them on the grass for the kids to dismantle, stalking up to the teacher.

"We came to the end of the river, and couldnt find the finish line," I told Aisha, who had finished her previous novel and had started on another. She glanced up at me and smiled sweetly.

"You must have gone the wrong way or something, but I'll give everyone a prize anyway," she told me.

"And where was the finish line?" I persisted.

"Oh, it doesn't really matter, we have to be getting back to school anyway." In other words, there wasn't one. I glared at her and returned to help them untie the rafts.

An hour later I was in the garage, working on the car that had been dropped off this morning. Claire was on the couch, finishing her homework.

I spent 4 hours on the car before taking Claire home and heading out for patrol.

_Hey Quil_, Brady called. He had just been over to see Collin. Apparently he had a date with his imprint, and was really excited. Brady was considering the idea that he didn't have an imprint, or she was dead, or something like that.

_I'm sure she's out there somwehere, _I tried. He wasn't having any of it.

_Something must have happened to her Quil. A car accident, an illness, maybe she just doesn't live around here. Or maybe I was just supposed to be on my own._

I didn't know how to reply, and focused on running my shift.

Little did I know, the problem would be solved in a few weeks time.


	15. Chapter 15

**A few weeks later...**

**Quil's POV**

My phone was ringing from somewhere nearby. I opened my eyes with a groan and reached out under the bed, sorting through the items until I found the vibrating piece. I looked at the time before the caller id, 1:00am. Who was calling at this time of the morning?

Elise.

I quickly clicked the green button and held the phone to my ear, getting ready to leave.

"Hello, this is Quil speaking."

"Look, I need you to go and pick up Claire, okay? I'm heading towards the Forks hospital, going to be in room 207," her voice announced wearily, before hanging up.

Elise must be going into labour, but why did she leave Claire at home on her own? Maybe she just didn't have time. I gathered a few blankets and pillows and slipped out the window, sprinting to my car and starting towards Claire's house.

The house was quiet and dark, with the door unlocked. I tried a light switch only to find that the power had gone off. That wasn't a problem for me, I could see perfectly, but Claire was probably nervous. I walked down the hall and twisted the handle. Locked. There was a quick gasp of breath on the other side of the door. I didn't mean to scare her.

"It's just me, open the door," I told her gently. I heard her get down from the bed and come over to the door, opening it an inch and peering through. It was too dark for her to see anyway.

"Come on Claire, it's only Quil. Let me in." She looked slightly more convinced and opened the door, letting me step inside. Once the door was open she leaned up against the wall, licking her lips nervously.

Silly little thing. Still wasn't completely sure that it was me. Why would anyone else be in her room at 1:00 in the morning? I reached over and picked up her hand, pulling the girl towards me and giving her a hug. She stiffened for a few seconds and then relaxed as she realised it was in fact, only me.

"What's going on?" She asked quietly.

"I'm not completely sure, but I reckon your Mum's gone into labour a week early. We're going to go and stay at the hospital with her." I let her go and hunted around her room, picking up a jacket and a pair of shoes.

"Why?" I shrugged, then realised she couldn't see.

"Because she told me to bring you over there. Don't you want to see your new sister?" She didn't answer so I picked her up and placed her in the car, driving to Forks.

I parked the car and got out, getting the blankets and pillows out of the backseat. I took in a deep breath, trying not to wince at the sickly sweetness that was in the air, even the car park smelled like leech.

We jogged into the hospital, walking up to the receptionist.

"Hey, I'm looking for room 207?" I asked her. She glanced at the computer and smiled.

"Level 3, you can wait on the benches beside it." I nodded my thanks and stepped into the waiting elevator. Claire remained silent, she looked really tired.

We found the room and settled onto the waiting bench. Elise was whimpering from behind the door, and several nurses walked in and out of the room. I made Claire a makeshift bed and gestured for her to lie down before making one for myself. Within a few minutes we were both fast asleep.

I awoke to the smell of leech, not the most pleasant thing. I quickly opened my eyes, Claire was sitting next to me, perfectly safe.

"Morning," she told me with a small yawn. I nodded in reply and sat up, glancing around the empty hallway. The smell of leech burned even stronger and I wrapped my arms around Claire, pulling her out of sight. She looked up at me strangely and then glanced towards the door.

Doctor Cullen came through, gliding up the hall. I didn't really mind the man, but he was still a vampire. Vegetarian or not, they could never be trusted.

"Good morning Quil, and I assume this must be Claire?" I nodded and returned the greeting. He hadn't actually met her before, I had made sure that Nessie was the only Cullen she ever got to see.

"Morning," Claire said quietly. He smiled at her reassuringly and slipped into the room, closing it behind him. Great, now the hallway stunk.

"Who was that?" Claire whispered.

"Nessie's grandpa," I replied. Aka Doctor Fangs.

"He looked..." I glared at her, tapping my ear before pointing towards the room, trying to sign that he could hear her. Her eyes widened, but she nodded and stopped talking.

I occasionally wondered how much she understood, and how much she just thought I was insane. We never really talked about it, though she would ask if something suspicious happened. And occasionally, she would get this look in her eyes, like she was trying to work something out that just didn't add up.

About 10 minutes later Dr Cullen returned.

"You can go inside now if you'd like," he told me before going inside the room next door.

I stood up and opened the door for Claire, going inside. Elise was lying on the bed, holding a newborn baby in her arms. She was wearing a blue plastic gown and had several pieces of equipment attached to her arm.

There was no sign of Darren.

Claire went over to the bed and looked at the bundle for a few seconds. The baby was wrapped in a fluffy, pink blanket, only showing her head. She was cute, with large brown eyes and a tiny little nose. Elise held the baby out and Claire picked her up carefully.

"What's her name?" I asked gently. Elise looked completely worn out, shouldn't she be sleeping? Emily had slept for hours after the twins were born.

"Dyani," Elise whispered before closing her eyes. She was okay, just exhausted.

**Claire's POV**

"Oh she's gorgeous," Aunty Emily cooed, playing with Dyani, over her pregnant stomach. Mum grunted and plopped herself down on the couch next to Ayana and Aran who were playing a video game in fierce concentration. I watched Yani, as I had nicknamed her gurgle and smile up at Aunty Em.

"Would you like a cup of coffee?" She continued, nudging the baby on her hip.

"Yes," Mum replied, closing her eyes for a few seconds. She looked really tired, but I would be too if there was a baby crying nearly all night in my bedroom. Darren had been sleeping on the couch just to stay away from her.

Quil and Brady came through the hallway, joking and shoving each other around. Brady looked slightly happier than usual.

"Hey! Not near the children," Aunty Em ordered. They nodded innocently, and continued into the living room. Brady sprawled out over the couch, while Quil came and sat next to me.

"Brady, sit up and hold Yani while I make the coffee," Aunty Em ordered, holding the baby out towards him. Brady grumbled a bit but did as he was told, taking Yani from her hands.

And then he froze and stared at her. Aunty Em stopped walking, and Quil watched the pair with wide eyes. What was going on? Mum and the twins were oblivious to what was happening.

"Can't I have just one niece, just one normal one that doesn't have this happen to them?" Aunty Emily exclaimed.

What did she mean? I was normal, but she said 'one that doesn't have this happen to them'. That meant it had happened to me.

Brady gasped and began to shake, exactly like Quil would whenever he was angry or really upset. He was still staring at Yani, as if she were the most precious thing in the universe. Just like Sam would stare at Emily.

Just like Quil would stare at me.

One that didn't have this happen to them.

Imprinting? Brady had imprinted on Yani? Quil had imprinted on me?

That would explain everything, why he took care of me for all these years. Why he was friends with a kid half his age. But, Emily and Sam were married, as were Arielle and Embry and many other of Quils friends.

Did that mean? Nope, I'm not going to think about that. He was my best friend, and he would always be my best friend. He had promised.

Uncle Sam came into the room, watching the scene with an incredulous expression on his face.

"For goodness sake, does your family have the gene or something?" He said. Brady snapped out of his trance and stood up, handing the baby to Emily and racing out of the room before I could blink. Quil ran after him, and I heard the door slam shut behind them. Yani began to whimper quietly, maybe she missed him?

I replayed what Uncle Sam had said inside my head. The gene? The wolf gene? That would make sense; Emily, Yani and I had all been imprinted on. And Grandpa knew the legends.

He knew the legends. Could he have been a wolf as well?

Emily took a shaky breath and handed Yani over to me, leaving the room with Sam. She went into the kitchen, and I could hear them talking in hushed voices.

I gently rocked the crying baby in my arms, trying to get her to quieten down.

"Will that thing ever shut up?" Mum asked, opening her eyes and storming out of the room.

Ayana and Aran returned to their game, not saying a word.

"It's okay Yani, they'll be back soon," I whispered soothingly, she stopped crying and looked up at me with wide eyes. I smiled kindly and stroked her tiny little hands. She played with my hair, the ringlets bouncing back into place whenever she pulled at them.

"That's Brady, okay? He's going to play with you and stuff like that," I explained in a quiet voice. She probably didn't know it, but she had just gained her new best friend.

I continued rocking my little sister, eventually sending her to sleep.

Quil and Brady came back an hour or so later, Brady looking extremely worried. He ran into the living room and sat down beside me, watching the sleepng girl. Yani opened her eyes and blinked a couple of times, staring up at him.

I wondered what she was thinking, how much could she understand?

I sighed and handed her over to Brady, standing up and walking into the kitchen. He was now officially on babysitting duty.

Mum and Aunty Emily were leaning against the bench with mugs opf steaming coffee.

Quil was rummaging through the pantry, in search of food. He stepped up onto a shelf and began climbing towards the top shelves. Emily's pantry was absolutely huge. He re-emerged a few seconds later with a container of gingerbread that Aunty Em had obviously attempted to hide.

I watched with a perfectly straight face as he wrapped them individually in gladwrap and buried them inside a bowl of popcorn, before confidently walking past Emily and Mum, into the living room.

I followed him out the door, sitting on the couch beside him. Brady was rocking Yani to sleep.

"You know they were probably for the twins, don't you?" I asked him quietly, unburying myself a cookie.

"Which is the exact reason why I left 2 of them in the box," he replied through a mouthful of gingerbread.

I rolled my eyes but went along with it. Brady glared at us and gestured for us to be quiet. Poor him, babysitting duty for the next who knows how many years. Just like Quil, but at least I was slightly older when he started looking after me. Brady would probably be at the window later tonight, watching Yani like the guard dog he is.

I should probably work out what colour he was. Quil would know, but if I just asked out loud he was likely not to tell me, Brady was still in hearing distance. And what about Uncle Sam? People kept saying that he had stopped phasing, or retired or something along those lines. Could he still hear really well?

I picked up a piece of paper and a pen from the table and quickly wrote 'what colour is Brady?" Quil stared at the paper, looking slightly cross, though I could tell he wasn't really angry. A few minutes later he wrote back 'Grey' before studying my face carefully. I put on a neutral expression and continued to eat my snack.

Quil sighed and threw a gingerbread at him, aiming for the back of his head. Brady didn't even look up as he reached behind him and swiftly caught the flying treat. If they didn't want me to know that they weren't human, the least they could do was act like it.

Quil's head shot up, and he started burying the remains of the gingerbread.

"Come on guys, we're leaving," Mum called, walking through the door. I nodded and stood up, giving Quil a hug before walking out the room.

Brady unhappily handed Yani to Mum, and followed us to the car. Yep, he would definitely be at our place sometme tonight.

**Quil's POV**

_What colour is Brady?_

I stared at the 4 words on the piece of paper, trying to work out what she had meant by them. She was obviously onto something, though if she actually knew about the wolves I wasn't sure. The scene earlier had made imprinting fairly obvious, but I would think she would have reacted slightly more if she had worked it out.

But, she was asking what colour he was. Maybe she knew that Brady had imprinted on her sister. Emily and Sam had made it fairly clear earlier, even if it was by accident.

And there had been many other times in the past when it had been pretty obvious. She had, had 8 years to figure it out, 8 years to observe and form ideas. And she had been to several bonfires, listening to the legends intently whenever they were told.

And that was when I made up my mind. She had figured it out, what was the use of attempting to hide it any longer? With a small sigh I picked up the pen and wrote down the answer.

**Claire's POV**

I was sitting on the couch beside the window, trying to get Yani to go to sleep. It wasn't working, and her cries were echoing across the house. Mum and Darren were upstairs, probably attempting to sleep.

"Come on Yani, its okay, be a good girl and stop crying," I whispered, rocking her back and forth. Did most babies cry this much? Maybe she was sick or something. Or maybe she was hungry. When was the last time Mum had fed her?

I thought back over my day, the last time was just before we went to Aunty Emily's house. I shook my head, feeling stupid. The poor little thing was hungry and I hadn't done anything about it.

I stood up, walking into the kitchen. There was 4 tins of baby formula, and I quickly measured the correct amounts, stirring it together and pouring the liquid into her bottle.

This done I went back into the living room, sitting down and arranging Yani on my lap.

"Come on Yani, open your mouth," I said gently, trying to convince the stubborn child to drink. Finally! She began happily drinking the milk, leaving the house in silence.

I looked over at the window, and saw a flash of silver fly past. Yep, there he is. I wondered where Quil was, he didn't bother staying outside of our house anymore, though he would usually be here first thing the next morning.

When Yani had finished I got her ready for bed, before laying her in the crib.

"Night Yani," I whispered quietly, closing the door behind me. I sneaked up to my bedroom and had a shower before climbing into bed.

"Night Brady," I whispered, knowing that he would hear. Looking down, I could just make out the silver wolf that was peering into my sisters window.


	16. Chapter 16

**A few months later...**

**Claire's POV**

The alarm clock went off somewhere to my left, ringing annoyingly. I slapped the stop button but didn't move. Who invented school anyway? With a small sigh, I realised that I had better get up before Yani started crying. At least it was a Friday, the weekend was coming up.

The door opened and then closed gently before the bed trembled, signalling that someone had jumped up. A warm hand gently stroked my forehead.

"Morning," I mumbled, without opening my eyes.

"Morning Claire," Quil replied. "Brady's looking after Yani for today so you're off babysitting duties."

Thankyou! Thankyou! Thankyou!

I sprung from the bed and landed on the carpet. What to wear? My black jeans were in the wash, so the blue ones would have to do. Now where was my grey shirt? I found it and then turned towards the bed.

"Quil-"

"I'm going," he cut me off, leaving the room and shutting the door.

I quickly got changed and put my hair up in a pony tail. Quil could braid it later. I wonder what Peta would say if she knew I had a 20 something year old guy do my hair for me each morning.

My sneakers were getting old, I would have to buy a new pair sometime soon. Oh well, these would last a few more weeks.

I stepped through the door, spotting Quil beside it, leaning against the wall. He followed me into the bathroom, tiptoing around the edge of the spa bath as he waited for me to brush my teeth.

"You all ready for your presentation?" He asked me. Oh great.

"You just had to remind me," I whined. I was already starting to feel nervous, and I wasn't even on the way to school.

"It'll be fine Claire-"

"No it won't. I can't do orals, they're terrible," I replied. Standing up infront of the entire class, for all of them to see me. I would probably read too fast for them to understand me, and my hands would probably shake so much that I could barely read in the first place.

And what if I messed up a word? Last year, when I had to read infront of the class, I had said that the character had run away, leaving his house behind, instead of his horse.

And thats not to mention that they got to ask questions. What if I didn't know the answer?

"Everyone has to do it you know, they'll be so many presentations that no one will even remember yours, except for Tadita."

"Unless I mess it up really bad," I replied, rinsing my mouth.

"But you won't. And anyway, some of the boys will probably not have a speech planned out, and they'll be even worse." I had to agree with that, mine wouldn't be the worst, but it still wasn't very good.

But they'd all be watching me.

I decided not to voice that thought, I didn't want to sound like a complete baby, and Quil was probably bored enough. I poured myself a bowl of cornflakes and sat down to eat my breakfast, Quil did the same.

15 minutes later he was dropping me off at school.

"See you."

"Bye."

I sighed and walked into school, waiting for Tadita next to the art room. I enjoyed getting to school early, I had time to read my book and prepare for the day. Not to mention, reading would keep my mind off the speech.

"Morning Claire!" Tadita yelled from right beside me. I jumped, too engrosed in my novel to have noticed her.

"Morning." Tadita sat down next to me, pulling a book out of her bag. We stayed silent, reading for the next 20 minutes as people slowly arrived.

The bell rang and we lined up infront of the door. Mr Martin arrived after another 10 minutes, letting us into the warm classroom.

First, we had an English lesson. We were writing narratives that had to be between 2 and 4 pages long. Everyone had complained when we were first told this, but it didn't seem like that much when you had lots of time to write it.

The oral wasn't that bad, I only stood up for 2 minutes and the speeches went on for an hour and a half. Thats not to say I enjoyed it, I stuttered through the entire thing, my hands shaking the whole time. I sat down in my seat, taking a deep sigh of relief. Tadita did a really good job of hers, didn't even stutter.

The rest of the day passed fairly quickly, and soon I was standing behind my desk, waiting for the bell to ring. How could 5 minutes go so slowly?

Finally! I joined the rush of students that were exiting the school, walking quickly up to the front of the property. I stopped next to the largest pine tree and glanced around for Tadita. She waved and then got onto the bus.

Having no one to wait for, I crossed the road and began my journey to the garage.

It didn't take that long, only about 15 minutes. There were 2 cars in the driveway, 3 if you counted Quils. I was probably going to spend my afternoon reading and doing my homework, not the most exciting thing, but it was better than going home.

Darren was bringing his friends home more and more often, and Mum wasn't home until 9:00 or 10:00 most nights. She had gotten a promotion a few years ago and was doing extra hours for a lot more money.

I found Quil bent over an engine, grease all over his hands and clothes.

"Hey Claire," he called, not turning around from his work. How did he work out it was me? He did this all the time, maybe it was my footsteps or something?

"Hi." I walked inside and plonked myself down on the couch, starting on my homework.

I finished a while later, and went back to reading my novel for the 4th time. When I got to the 8th chapter I realised I could nearly quote the first few sentences.

There were voices coming from the other room, perhaps another customer? I seriously hoped not, that would mean he would have even less time. I sighed and stood up, stretching before going to find Quil.

"Here she is," Quil said cheerfully. I rounded the corner to find Brady leaning against one of the cars, holding a smiling Yani. He was grinning like he had just won the lottery, allowing Yani to play with one of his giant hands.

I smiled and gave my little sister a hug. She was so cute, especially when someone else was looking after her. I handed her back to Brady and stood next to Quil, who was cleaner than he had been a few hours ago.

Perhaps he was finished?

"You all ready to go Claire?" I nodded and ran back inside, grabbing my school bag and returning a few seconds later.

"So where do you want to go?" Quil asked Brady as the 4 of us piled into Bob. I sat in the front, while Brady stayed in the back wiith Yani.

"Its getting dark, why wouldn't we just go home?" I asked, rather confused.

Brady and Quil exchanged looks, but neither of them answered. I glared at Quil suspiciously, but he avoided my eyes.

"Why don't we go over to my place for a while?" Quil suggested, studying the road infront of him.

"And why would we do that?" I asked cautiously.

"Or we could go to the shops and get some snacks, and then we could watch a movie?" He continued, completely ignoring me.

"Quil?"

"We can get icecream."

"You suck at changing the conservation, you know that right?"

He continued to ignore me, pulling into the carpark. The engine rumbled to a stop and Quil began to take off his seat belt. I climbed over the gear box and sat on his lap, staring up at him sternly.

I knew that look, it was the 'dont tell Claire' one. Like it ever actually worked.

"Its nothing bad, we're just trying to avoid taking you home for a couple of hours," he told me truthfully. Why?

"Or a couple of days," Brady mumbled from the back seat. I shook my head but let the matter drop, walking into the shops. They probably knew what they were doing.

"Now, did you want salt and vinegar or honey soy chicken?" Quil asked, holding up 2 packets of chips.

"Salt and vinegar," I told him, staying at his side. Suddenly, both boys came to attention, searching around the back of the aisle.

"New plan," Brady decided, taking off back the way we had came. Quil grabbed my arm and began dragging me after him.

"There you are!" A loud voice screeched from behind us. Brady stopped mid stride, seeing no point in continuing.

With a small sigh I turned around to face her. Mum was wearing a pair of black leggings and a flowery, colourful top with small, black boots. Her hair had been curled or perhaps she had been electricuted, for it was in a huge mess all over her head. Defininetly not her usual attire.

"Quil and Brady, you were supposed to have them home by 5:00. Now get them home and make sure they're dressed properly. We're leaving at 5:30," Mum ordered. "And what are you two wearing?"

What was going on now?

"We'll see what we can find," Quil told her.

"And put those back, they'll be plenty of food already," she ordered, gesturing to the bag in Quil's hand.

The boys complained quietly but did as they were told, before taking us home.

"So what were we trying to avoid?" I asked again, when Quil was going through my cupboard, trying to find something I could use as a costume.

"Its a 70's and 80's birthday party for one of your Mums friends. It starts at 7," he explained.

And we had to dress up like old people? Why wouldn't they want to go to that?

"Why are we leaving at 5:30 then?" Surely it wouldn't take that long to get there.

"Its really far away. You could probably sleep for the whole car ride if you wanted to," he told me, finally stepping out of my cupboard with a pair of jeans and a colourful top. This didn't look very old, but oh well.

"Okay. Is Darren coming?"

"Yep. Now put these on," he said, throwing the clothes onto my head. I stared at the shirt in disgust.

"You know Grandma Louise bought this for me?" It really was revolting, flowery, pink and way too big for me. The shirt reached halfway to my knees, though it was bunched up around the waist.

"I'm sure it'll be fine," he told me, leaving the room.

I got changed and looked at myself in the mirror. I looked really weird. I found a jacket and then went into the living room. Brady had a pair of tight jeans on with a black leather jacket. Yani was dressed much the same as me, but Brady couldn't convince her to put on the shirt.

"Arms up," Brady told Yani. She smiled, giggled a bit and then put her arms as far down as she could reach.

"Thats down kiddo, you need to have them up," he explained, demostrating the action again.

With a delighted giggle at her newfound game, she touched her toes.

"Yani!" Brady exclaimed, pretending to be upset, she laughed hysterically, nearly falling off the couch in the process.

"I'm sorry, who taught her that again?" I asked casually, sitting myself down beside the pair.

He turned to glare at me playfully. "Shut up."

I shrugged innocently and waited for Quil to get back. He was wearing much the same think as Brady, but with a black shirt instead of white. Mum entered the house a few minutes later.

"Good, you're all ready. Go get in the car and I'll be there in a minute," she told us, handing Brady the car keys. Probably not the best of ideas.

We all squished into the back of the larger car, glad that Mum had gotten a new one.

Yani and Brady went in the back seats, so Yani could sleep better supposedly, though how she was going to sleep while her giant playmate was sitting right there was a mystery.

I must have slept for the whole journey, though I wasn't quite sure how I did it. When I opened my eyes I was curled up along the 2 seats, with my head on a pillow that Quil had somehow remembered to bring. Feeling a pair of eyes on me, I looked up to see Quil staring at me. I often joked to myself that it was his favourite hobby.

Darren was in the other front seat, while Mum was driving. There was loud music playing, another thing that I wondered how I slept through.

"Okay, everybody out," Darren declared, stepping out of the car.

I couldn't see anything, but I did as I was told. Quil guided me by the arm until we were just outside the door.

Brady opened the door, carrying Yani inside, and I followed while the heavy thing was still open. We stepped into a room full of loud music and fog. It was really dark, the only lights being the red and green ones that were streaking across the walls in time with the music. There were posters all over the walls and disco balls hung up on the ceiling. Helium balloons were clinging to the ceiling, the streams of ribbon hanging to the ground.

Yani giggled and pulled at one, so Brady got it down for her.

Mum and Darren went ahead of us, past the area and into the next, where there were at least 20 long table set up, surrounded by chairs that were all full of people. There must of been more than 80 guests.

At the end of the room, the food was set up. Fruit, chips, lollies and chocolates. Mum dragged us around for the first 10 minutes, making us greet all of her own friends. They were all dressed up, some even had flower pots on their heads, though I wasn't really sure how that was a 70's and 80's costume.

Other people had gigantic wigs on, some that were twice the size of their heads.

When we had finally finished saying hello to everyone, I found a couch behind the dance floor area. There were also several boxes of toys that had been cleared out of the way and lots of colouring pages.

What were we supposed to do now? I took off my shoes and rested my head against the arm rest, closing my eyes for a brief second.

"Are you really that tired?" Quil asked, handing me a piece of chocolate. I smiled in thanks and shook my head, quickly swallowing the treat.

"Not really." Before I could blink, I was flying around the room. The loud music swallowed the sound of my squeal, so no one even noticed.

"Quil! Put me down!" I managed to get out between giggles. He eventually did, collapsing on the floor.

Dinner was served not long after, and then dessert. I had way too much to eat, though it looked like half a snack if you compared it to Quils huge meal.

We spent the rest of the night laughing and watching other peoples attempts at dancing. Even Brady had a turn, just to entertain Yani.

All in all, it was a fantastic night, even though we didn't get home until late, and I fell asleep in the car on the way home.


End file.
